Clendenning scores winner in overtime
March 1, 2012
CHARLOTTETOWN – It took overtime, but Wednesday evening the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds defeated the UPEI Panther 3-2 to sweep their best-of-five AUS semi-final men’s hockey playoff series three straight. Veteran forward Jordan Clendenning scored the winner at 5:20 of the extra period to send UNB onto the AUS finals against the winner of the Moncton-Saint Mary’s series.
It was standing room only crowd of 1628 at the MacLaughlin Arena that hoped to see the home team stave off elimination. The game got off to a choppy start, with more careful play than flow. UNB had the edge in territorial play and were rewarded at 10:39 when Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) worked a give and go with Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) before going to the net and knocking his own rebound past Mavrick Parks (Eganville, ON). That ended up being the only goal in the first period that saw UNB dominate UPEI 15-2 on the shot clock.
After a bad first period the Panthers clawed their way back into the fight in the second period, and at one stage had the V-Reds on the ropes for a stretch of several minutes. Although they didn’t score, UPEI outshot UNB 19-10 and Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) had to make several big saves.
Just past the six minute mark of the third period UPEI defenceman Reggie Traccitto (Oakville, ON) had a great scoring chance. After Fullerton’s save, Wiebe took the rebound the length of the ice and forced Parks to make his own great save. Just after that play Wiebe was called for elbowing behind the UPEI net. Late in the resulting power play Matt Carter (Mississauga, ON) came off the side boards with the puck, skated across the slot and snapped a shot through a crowd that beat Fullerton to tie the game at 8:12. The nervous crowd erupted.
Less than a minute later UNB was shorthanded again when Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) was called for high sticking. The V-Reds did a good job on the penalty kill right up until it expired, when there was a scramble in front of the net and defenceman Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) had to make a blocking save when Fullerton was badly out of position. Play then went up the other end of the ice and Todd, now out of the box, forced Parks to make a big save on an odd-man rush.
UNB seemed to control most of the play in the third period, but the Panthers had bursts of opportunity, including at 14:06 when Jordan Knox (Skinner’s Pond, PE) had his shot clang of iron before Fullerton made a beautiful save on his rebound shot. UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall used his timeout after that sequence to apparently settle down his team. With overtime looming UNB defenceman Bretton Stamler (Edmonton, AB) was moving the puck cautiously out from behind the blue line when fore-checking Devin Praught (Summerside, PE) caused him to cough up the puck right at the side of the UNB net, and the puck bounced around before Jared Gomes (Mississauga, ON) banged it into the net at 17:12.
For the next 100 seconds the UPEI fans might have started looking forward to Game 4, but UNB pressed hard and Wiebe drove the net with Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) and MacNeil managed to get a puck up and over Parks and into the net to tie the game again, stunning the crowd. After the remaining 68 seconds ticked down, there was a three minute break and then overtime commenced.
UPEI won their quarter-final series against Acadia in overtime, in double-overtime as a matter of fact, but that wasn’t to be the result this time. UNB dominated play in overtime, forcing the Panthers to ice the puck several times. Finally at 5:20 the puck bounced off the rear glass right to UNB’s Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) behind the UPEI net. He quickly fired a pass out to Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) all alone in the slot and he leaned into the shot and snapped it past Parks to end the game, and the series. Shots were 5-1 for UNB in the overtime period and 44-31 in the game. The V-Reds were 0-for-3 on the power play in the game while the Panthers were 1-for-4.
UNB now waits for the winner of the Moncton-Saint Mary’s series. UdeM cruised to a 6-1 over SMU Wednesday night and will have an opportunity to win that series Saturday night. If the Huskies win, Game 5 would be Monday in Halifax. Since UNB eliminated UPEI, the winner of the UdeM-SMU series will also advance to the Cavendish University Cup in Fredericton, no matter what happens in the best-of-five AUS final against UNB.
Game Notes: UNB’s Geordie Wudrick and UPEI’s Zach MacCullough both had to sit out the game due to checking from behind major penalties in Saturday’s game. Monday Panther forward Chris Desousa received a supplemental two-game suspension from the AUS for his hit on Thomas Nesbitt in Saturday’s game, so he was also not dressed.
It was standing room only crowd of 1628 at the MacLaughlin Arena that hoped to see the home team stave off elimination. The game got off to a choppy start, with more careful play than flow. UNB had the edge in territorial play and were rewarded at 10:39 when Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) worked a give and go with Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) before going to the net and knocking his own rebound past Mavrick Parks (Eganville, ON). That ended up being the only goal in the first period that saw UNB dominate UPEI 15-2 on the shot clock.
After a bad first period the Panthers clawed their way back into the fight in the second period, and at one stage had the V-Reds on the ropes for a stretch of several minutes. Although they didn’t score, UPEI outshot UNB 19-10 and Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) had to make several big saves.
Just past the six minute mark of the third period UPEI defenceman Reggie Traccitto (Oakville, ON) had a great scoring chance. After Fullerton’s save, Wiebe took the rebound the length of the ice and forced Parks to make his own great save. Just after that play Wiebe was called for elbowing behind the UPEI net. Late in the resulting power play Matt Carter (Mississauga, ON) came off the side boards with the puck, skated across the slot and snapped a shot through a crowd that beat Fullerton to tie the game at 8:12. The nervous crowd erupted.
Less than a minute later UNB was shorthanded again when Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) was called for high sticking. The V-Reds did a good job on the penalty kill right up until it expired, when there was a scramble in front of the net and defenceman Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) had to make a blocking save when Fullerton was badly out of position. Play then went up the other end of the ice and Todd, now out of the box, forced Parks to make a big save on an odd-man rush.
UNB seemed to control most of the play in the third period, but the Panthers had bursts of opportunity, including at 14:06 when Jordan Knox (Skinner’s Pond, PE) had his shot clang of iron before Fullerton made a beautiful save on his rebound shot. UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall used his timeout after that sequence to apparently settle down his team. With overtime looming UNB defenceman Bretton Stamler (Edmonton, AB) was moving the puck cautiously out from behind the blue line when fore-checking Devin Praught (Summerside, PE) caused him to cough up the puck right at the side of the UNB net, and the puck bounced around before Jared Gomes (Mississauga, ON) banged it into the net at 17:12.
For the next 100 seconds the UPEI fans might have started looking forward to Game 4, but UNB pressed hard and Wiebe drove the net with Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) and MacNeil managed to get a puck up and over Parks and into the net to tie the game again, stunning the crowd. After the remaining 68 seconds ticked down, there was a three minute break and then overtime commenced.
UPEI won their quarter-final series against Acadia in overtime, in double-overtime as a matter of fact, but that wasn’t to be the result this time. UNB dominated play in overtime, forcing the Panthers to ice the puck several times. Finally at 5:20 the puck bounced off the rear glass right to UNB’s Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) behind the UPEI net. He quickly fired a pass out to Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) all alone in the slot and he leaned into the shot and snapped it past Parks to end the game, and the series. Shots were 5-1 for UNB in the overtime period and 44-31 in the game. The V-Reds were 0-for-3 on the power play in the game while the Panthers were 1-for-4.
UNB now waits for the winner of the Moncton-Saint Mary’s series. UdeM cruised to a 6-1 over SMU Wednesday night and will have an opportunity to win that series Saturday night. If the Huskies win, Game 5 would be Monday in Halifax. Since UNB eliminated UPEI, the winner of the UdeM-SMU series will also advance to the Cavendish University Cup in Fredericton, no matter what happens in the best-of-five AUS final against UNB.
Game Notes: UNB’s Geordie Wudrick and UPEI’s Zach MacCullough both had to sit out the game due to checking from behind major penalties in Saturday’s game. Monday Panther forward Chris Desousa received a supplemental two-game suspension from the AUS for his hit on Thomas Nesbitt in Saturday’s game, so he was also not dressed.