Lavigne gets shut-out as V-Reds blank Aigles Bleus 4-0

The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds wrapped up a big four-point weekend on Saturday, beating the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus 4-0 before 2,562 fans on Senior's night at the Aitken Centre.

Chris Culligan earned first star honours with a goal and two assists in his final regular season home game, while Philippe Halley added a pair as UNB's top line accounted for three of UNB's four goals with Philippe Maillet assisting on each of Culligan and Halley's goals.

"I think it's kind of natural for those two. They're used to playing together and they look for each other out there," Culligan said of his linemates. "I think it's working right now. You get a little bit of confidence once you get things going and we were getting chances early on."

After a scoreless first period, UNB opened the scoring midway through the second with Culligan feeding Halley far side who beat UdeM goaltender Adrien Lemay for his seventh of the season.

Four minutes later Moncton's Alex Noel went off for tripping and UNB capitalized on the power play with Culligan beating Lemay with a one-timer with a cross-ice pass from Maillet, as UNB led 2-0 after 40 minutes.

Seven minutes into the third Halley scored his second of the game, following up a scoring chance by Maillet and cashing in on the rebound for his second of the game, and shortly after UNB struck again on the power play, this time by Nick MacNeil who redirected a Marc-Antoine Desnoyers point shot as UNB completed the season sweep of its New Brunswick rival.

UNB outshot Moncton 41-18, with Charlie Lavigne stopping all 18 UdeM shots for his second shutout of the year, while Tom Nesbitt was flying on Saturday night with some tough back checking and posted a game-high seven shots on goal.

The V-Reds have now scored four power play goals in their last two games while the penalty kill unit has killed off 16 of the last 17 chances over the same stretch. Head coach Gardiner MacDougall said special teams are key this time of year.

"Our penalty kill has been our foundation all year. There was a little bit of a dip for a few games there, and the power play this time of year is finding different things as well," MacDougall said. "That's one good thing about it. If it's not going, you find a way to make it work and we have to reload and find a way. I thought this weekend was good for us."

UNB wraps up the regular season on the road next weekend against Dalhousie on Friday night and Acadia on Saturday.

Nick Murray, for UNB Sports Information

Photo credit to: Isabelle Chevrier