V-Reds win Game 1 of AUS finals in decisive fashion
March 8, 2012
FREDERICTON – Wednesday evening the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds broke open the first game of the 2012 Subway Atlantic University Sport men's hockey championship with five goals in the second period and cruised to an 8-3 victory versus the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus. Nick MacNeil led the UNB attack with three goals, all on the power play, while defenceman Marc-Antoine Desnoyers had three assists and Dion Campbell added a pair of goals.
The game got off to a good pace in front of 2158 fans at the Aitken University Centre as over three minutes of play elapsed between the opening faceoff and the first whistle. The first goal came at 7:43 as Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) entered the zone and fed a pass to Tyler Carroll (Strathroy, ON) who danced through three Moncton players on his way to the net before putting the puck past P-A Marion (Gatineau, QC). UNB extended their lead less than a minute later when Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) all alone at the bottom of the left circle took a pass from Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) and buried it in the top far corner over Marion’s shoulder. Marion entered the game having only given up six goals in six playoff games for a 1.00 GAA, yet the V-Reds scored twice on him on four shots on goal.
Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) was called for holding at 14:26, and the Moncton power play only needed 22 seconds to score when Alex Quesnel (Dorval, QC) had a rebound bounce right to him for an easy tap-in into the open side of the net. UNB outshot UdeM 11-4 in the first period.
The game changed in the second period, and the surprisingly lethal UNB power play had a lot to do with it. On their first power play at 5:32 Marc-Antoine Desnoyers (Saint-Hippolyte, QC) hammered a point shot off the rear boards that caromed to Nick MacNeil (Criegnish, NS) at the side of the net, and he stuffed the puck into the short side with a deft backhand. The V-Reds added an even strength goal less than two minutes later when Taylor MacDougall (New Maryland, NB) battled for position in the blue paint in front of Marion and knocked in the rebound from a Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) point shot. Seconds later UNB almost had another goal when Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) had a partial break and beat Marion, but not the far post.
UNB was on a delayed penalty when Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) converted a pass from Harty at 12:20. Moncton head coach Serge Bourgeois immediately called timeout to settle his team, and he also opted to take Marion out of the nets and replace him with André-Michel Guay (Moncton, NB). UNB was back on the power play at 15:11 when Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) fired a shot from the top of the slot that MacNeil redirected past Guay from close in. The Moncton players swarmed MacNeil after the goal and Todd came charging to the aid of his teammate and picked up two minutes for roughing. Not only did UNB kill off the penalty, but when Todd came out of the box he headed for the net and drew Kevin Charland into taking a penalty. On the resulting power play Campbell walked out of the corner and sniped a shot over Guay’s shoulder on the short side. UNB outshot Moncton 14-6 in the period and were leading 7-1 after 40 minutes.
UNB added another MacNeil power play goal at 6:43 of the third period to complete his hat trick. Then the V-Reds got into some penalty trouble of their own, giving les Aigles Bleus some extended 5-on-3 play. Defenceman Samuel Groulx (Gatineau, QC) cashed in at 10:42 when his low points shot beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) inside the far post, and captain Dean Ouellet (Edmundston, NB) added another 5-on-3 goal a minute later when his heavy shot from the same spot handcuffed Fullerton’s glove hand. That was it for goals, although there were lots more coincidental penalties as every whistle seemed to predicate a scrum and both teams sent messages for the next game. The V-Reds outshot Moncton 12-8 in the period and 37-18 in the game.
The Varsity Reds were a season’s best 4-for-6 on the power play while les Aigles Bleus were no slouch at 3-for-7 with the man advantage. One positive for Moncton is that they edged UNB 32-30 in faceoff wins.
After the game Bourgeois, just named the AUS coach of the year, said, “You have to give credit to UNB. I thought they played a great game. They started and were strong on us. They were quick on us. They won the battles. A lot of battles that we lost tonight. “ He vowed that “we’re going to bounce back. We’ve bounced back all year and hopefully we’ll do a lot better job tomorrow.”
Dion Campbell noted that UNB made some changes after the first period. “We executed in the second and I think that’s the best I’ve seen our team play all year.” As for the improved power play both Campbell and Nick MacNeil said the objective was to get pucks on the net and to battle to get bodies in front of the net. MacNeil added, “I know they’re going to come out real strong tomorrow, they have a good team over there and I definitely think Marion is going to come with a stronger game tomorrow.”
UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall was of similar mind in expecting Moncton to bounce back.. “The whole thing now is, Game 1 is finished. It’s only one game. Whether you win 3-2 or you win 8-3, it’s one game.”
Game 2 goes Thursday at 7:00 pm at the AUC.
The game got off to a good pace in front of 2158 fans at the Aitken University Centre as over three minutes of play elapsed between the opening faceoff and the first whistle. The first goal came at 7:43 as Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) entered the zone and fed a pass to Tyler Carroll (Strathroy, ON) who danced through three Moncton players on his way to the net before putting the puck past P-A Marion (Gatineau, QC). UNB extended their lead less than a minute later when Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) all alone at the bottom of the left circle took a pass from Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) and buried it in the top far corner over Marion’s shoulder. Marion entered the game having only given up six goals in six playoff games for a 1.00 GAA, yet the V-Reds scored twice on him on four shots on goal.
Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) was called for holding at 14:26, and the Moncton power play only needed 22 seconds to score when Alex Quesnel (Dorval, QC) had a rebound bounce right to him for an easy tap-in into the open side of the net. UNB outshot UdeM 11-4 in the first period.
The game changed in the second period, and the surprisingly lethal UNB power play had a lot to do with it. On their first power play at 5:32 Marc-Antoine Desnoyers (Saint-Hippolyte, QC) hammered a point shot off the rear boards that caromed to Nick MacNeil (Criegnish, NS) at the side of the net, and he stuffed the puck into the short side with a deft backhand. The V-Reds added an even strength goal less than two minutes later when Taylor MacDougall (New Maryland, NB) battled for position in the blue paint in front of Marion and knocked in the rebound from a Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) point shot. Seconds later UNB almost had another goal when Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) had a partial break and beat Marion, but not the far post.
UNB was on a delayed penalty when Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) converted a pass from Harty at 12:20. Moncton head coach Serge Bourgeois immediately called timeout to settle his team, and he also opted to take Marion out of the nets and replace him with André-Michel Guay (Moncton, NB). UNB was back on the power play at 15:11 when Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) fired a shot from the top of the slot that MacNeil redirected past Guay from close in. The Moncton players swarmed MacNeil after the goal and Todd came charging to the aid of his teammate and picked up two minutes for roughing. Not only did UNB kill off the penalty, but when Todd came out of the box he headed for the net and drew Kevin Charland into taking a penalty. On the resulting power play Campbell walked out of the corner and sniped a shot over Guay’s shoulder on the short side. UNB outshot Moncton 14-6 in the period and were leading 7-1 after 40 minutes.
UNB added another MacNeil power play goal at 6:43 of the third period to complete his hat trick. Then the V-Reds got into some penalty trouble of their own, giving les Aigles Bleus some extended 5-on-3 play. Defenceman Samuel Groulx (Gatineau, QC) cashed in at 10:42 when his low points shot beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) inside the far post, and captain Dean Ouellet (Edmundston, NB) added another 5-on-3 goal a minute later when his heavy shot from the same spot handcuffed Fullerton’s glove hand. That was it for goals, although there were lots more coincidental penalties as every whistle seemed to predicate a scrum and both teams sent messages for the next game. The V-Reds outshot Moncton 12-8 in the period and 37-18 in the game.
The Varsity Reds were a season’s best 4-for-6 on the power play while les Aigles Bleus were no slouch at 3-for-7 with the man advantage. One positive for Moncton is that they edged UNB 32-30 in faceoff wins.
After the game Bourgeois, just named the AUS coach of the year, said, “You have to give credit to UNB. I thought they played a great game. They started and were strong on us. They were quick on us. They won the battles. A lot of battles that we lost tonight. “ He vowed that “we’re going to bounce back. We’ve bounced back all year and hopefully we’ll do a lot better job tomorrow.”
Dion Campbell noted that UNB made some changes after the first period. “We executed in the second and I think that’s the best I’ve seen our team play all year.” As for the improved power play both Campbell and Nick MacNeil said the objective was to get pucks on the net and to battle to get bodies in front of the net. MacNeil added, “I know they’re going to come out real strong tomorrow, they have a good team over there and I definitely think Marion is going to come with a stronger game tomorrow.”
UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall was of similar mind in expecting Moncton to bounce back.. “The whole thing now is, Game 1 is finished. It’s only one game. Whether you win 3-2 or you win 8-3, it’s one game.”
Game 2 goes Thursday at 7:00 pm at the AUC.