V-Reds win 2nd AUS championship in a row
March 12, 2012
MONCTON – Sunday evening the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds defeated the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus 4-0 to win the 2012 Subway Atlantic University Sport men's hockey championship in three straight games. Chris Culligan, the leading point man in the playoffs, keyed the V-Reds offence with three assists while Travis Fullerton earned the shutout in the UNB net. It is the second AUS championship in a row for UNB, and the twelfth all-time for the hockey program.
It was a full house at the J.-Louis Levesque arena on the UdeM campus, with a little less tension in the air than usual in a must-win game since both hockey teams would be advancing the Cavendish University Cup, starting March 22 in Fredericton. Les Aigles Bleus got off to a good start in the game, with Kevin Charland (Victoriaville, QC) getting a good wraparound opportunity in the first minute. At 1:50 Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) checked Guillaume Parenteau (Boucherville, QC) hard into the boards in front of the UNB bench and was assessed a five minute major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct. Parenteau was slow to get to his feet, but did return to the ice later in the power play. The UNB penalty kill was solid with Moncton only getting true scoring chances late in the power play when Eric Faille (Lachine, QC) couldn’t beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) from close in.
Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) served the Nesbitt penalty, and when he came out of the box he joined the V-Reds rush as it developed out of the neutral zone. Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) and Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) worked the puck into the Moncton zone and then back to the trailer Todd, who snapped it past a screen and into top corner of the Moncton net at 7:07. With momentum now going UNB’s way, a few minutes later Charles Bergeron (St-Joseph-de-Coleraine, QC) tried for the big hit when he took a run at UNB defenceman Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) and was called for charging. Just 14 seconds into the power play the V-Reds went up 2-0 when Culligan won the faceoff back to Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) who slid the puck across to the right point for Gallant, who in turn hammered a shot on net that beat P-A Marion (Gatineau, QC).
Moncton’s Simon Jodoin (Saint-Hyacinthe, QC) got his stick up on Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) at 14:02 and was tagged with a double-minor penalty for cutting the UNB forward. This time it took UNB’s power play 56 seconds to score as they passed the puck around with precision before going to Harty all alone at the back door for the easy tap-in goal. Fullerton was forced to make a big save in the last minute and UNB went into the first intermission with a 3-0 lead and a 9-8 edge in shots on goal.
UNB certainly had an edge in territorial play in the second period but Moncton did generate several good chances midway through the period. Moncton’s hope for a comeback probably faded at 14:28 when Culligan and Wiebe circled around the UdeM zone with the puck before Wiebe shot a puck that dribbled through Marion’s pads. The Moncton goalie reached back with his stick and inadvertently helped the puck towards the goal line. A defender reached in with stick to stop the puck at or just over the goal line, and attempted to clear it, but instead bounced the puck off Marion and back into the net.
A few minutes later Moncton got into penalty trouble and UNB was twice in a five-on-three man advantage situation. Then at 19:09 Christopher Guay (Pont-Rouge, QC) chopped down Wiebe in the corner and was handed a five minute major penalty and a game misconduct for slashing. UNB outshot Moncton 17-6 in the second period.
UNB had over four minutes of power play time to start the third period but didn’t get too many good scoring chances on Marionas Moncton played a strong penalty kill. Francis Rochon (Gatineaue, QC) even managed to ring a shorthanded shot off the post. Midway through the period Charland hit Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) right at the door to the UNB bench and was given two minutes for checking from behind and a ten-minute misconduct. While UNB did not score on the power play, or another one later in the game, it did give them puck possession time to run down the clock, and preserve Fullerton’s shutout.
Shots in the third period were 7-3 for UNB and 33-17 in the game. The V-Reds were 2-for-9 on the power play while Moncton was 0-for-4. The players of the game were Culligan for UNB and Marion for UdeM. Culligan led the AUS in the playoff scoring with 13 points in six games played while Moncton’s Dean Ouellet and Eric Faille tied for second place with 9 points in ten games played.
In reference to the challenge of closing out the series on the road, UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall said, “I’ve said many times this year that in the AUS we think has as much parity as there has been in the last several years. Full credit to the group. We had a great opponent that we knew had two hard fought victories [over StFX and SMU] and we were fortunate to get a bye in the first round and get some prep time and rest time. We were fortunate to get through [the quarter-finals] in three and use that to our advantage and I thought we got stronger as this series went. Now we get some more prep time and get ready for our first game at Nationals.”
It was a full house at the J.-Louis Levesque arena on the UdeM campus, with a little less tension in the air than usual in a must-win game since both hockey teams would be advancing the Cavendish University Cup, starting March 22 in Fredericton. Les Aigles Bleus got off to a good start in the game, with Kevin Charland (Victoriaville, QC) getting a good wraparound opportunity in the first minute. At 1:50 Thomas Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) checked Guillaume Parenteau (Boucherville, QC) hard into the boards in front of the UNB bench and was assessed a five minute major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct. Parenteau was slow to get to his feet, but did return to the ice later in the power play. The UNB penalty kill was solid with Moncton only getting true scoring chances late in the power play when Eric Faille (Lachine, QC) couldn’t beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) from close in.
Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) served the Nesbitt penalty, and when he came out of the box he joined the V-Reds rush as it developed out of the neutral zone. Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) and Shayne Wiebe (Brandon, MB) worked the puck into the Moncton zone and then back to the trailer Todd, who snapped it past a screen and into top corner of the Moncton net at 7:07. With momentum now going UNB’s way, a few minutes later Charles Bergeron (St-Joseph-de-Coleraine, QC) tried for the big hit when he took a run at UNB defenceman Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) and was called for charging. Just 14 seconds into the power play the V-Reds went up 2-0 when Culligan won the faceoff back to Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) who slid the puck across to the right point for Gallant, who in turn hammered a shot on net that beat P-A Marion (Gatineau, QC).
Moncton’s Simon Jodoin (Saint-Hyacinthe, QC) got his stick up on Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) at 14:02 and was tagged with a double-minor penalty for cutting the UNB forward. This time it took UNB’s power play 56 seconds to score as they passed the puck around with precision before going to Harty all alone at the back door for the easy tap-in goal. Fullerton was forced to make a big save in the last minute and UNB went into the first intermission with a 3-0 lead and a 9-8 edge in shots on goal.
UNB certainly had an edge in territorial play in the second period but Moncton did generate several good chances midway through the period. Moncton’s hope for a comeback probably faded at 14:28 when Culligan and Wiebe circled around the UdeM zone with the puck before Wiebe shot a puck that dribbled through Marion’s pads. The Moncton goalie reached back with his stick and inadvertently helped the puck towards the goal line. A defender reached in with stick to stop the puck at or just over the goal line, and attempted to clear it, but instead bounced the puck off Marion and back into the net.
A few minutes later Moncton got into penalty trouble and UNB was twice in a five-on-three man advantage situation. Then at 19:09 Christopher Guay (Pont-Rouge, QC) chopped down Wiebe in the corner and was handed a five minute major penalty and a game misconduct for slashing. UNB outshot Moncton 17-6 in the second period.
UNB had over four minutes of power play time to start the third period but didn’t get too many good scoring chances on Marionas Moncton played a strong penalty kill. Francis Rochon (Gatineaue, QC) even managed to ring a shorthanded shot off the post. Midway through the period Charland hit Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) right at the door to the UNB bench and was given two minutes for checking from behind and a ten-minute misconduct. While UNB did not score on the power play, or another one later in the game, it did give them puck possession time to run down the clock, and preserve Fullerton’s shutout.
Shots in the third period were 7-3 for UNB and 33-17 in the game. The V-Reds were 2-for-9 on the power play while Moncton was 0-for-4. The players of the game were Culligan for UNB and Marion for UdeM. Culligan led the AUS in the playoff scoring with 13 points in six games played while Moncton’s Dean Ouellet and Eric Faille tied for second place with 9 points in ten games played.
In reference to the challenge of closing out the series on the road, UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall said, “I’ve said many times this year that in the AUS we think has as much parity as there has been in the last several years. Full credit to the group. We had a great opponent that we knew had two hard fought victories [over StFX and SMU] and we were fortunate to get a bye in the first round and get some prep time and rest time. We were fortunate to get through [the quarter-finals] in three and use that to our advantage and I thought we got stronger as this series went. Now we get some more prep time and get ready for our first game at Nationals.”