UNB comes out strong in 7-1 victory over Windsor Lancers

The UNB Varsity Reds men's hockey team swept both games of the Peterbilt Pete Kelly Challenge, taking game two with a decisive 7-1 win over the Windsor Lancers and coming back from behind to win yesterday's match-up 6-5.

Both UNB and Windsor took the opportunity to try out their second goalies for this second game, with Chris Carrozzi in net for the V-Reds and Taylor Speed taking the reins for the Lancers.

In the first half of the season, UNB has often been slow out of the gate, only picking up momentum as the game progresses. This time out, however, it couldn't have been more of a different story.

A mere minute and a half into the first period, UNB opened up the scoring with their first shot on net. Tyler Carroll wrapped a pass around from behind the net to Philippe Halley who found the hole and made it 1-0 for the Varsity Reds.

Less than a minute later, UNB would score again. This time Colin Suellentrop had the goal with a shot from the point. Francis Beauvillier and Taylor MacDougall had the assist, and the Varsity Reds found themselves up 2-0 with only two shots on goal and just over two minutes into the game.

Parker Van Buskirk took over from Speed in the Lancer net not long after, and from that point on the game went into a holding pattern. The Lancers had some good chances around seven minutes in that had Carozzi diving across the net, but the first period would end with UNB up 2-0.

The second period opened with the Varsity Reds still coming on strong. Five minutes into play, Randy Gazzola fired off a long shot from the point and Chris Caissy managed to get his stick on it to tap it in for the V-Reds' third goal. 

Moments later, UNB's momentum would take a hit as they picked up two penalties and entered into a 5-on-3 situation. The Varsity Reds nearly emerged unscathed but with twelve seconds to go, Lancer Matt Beaudoin fired one past Carozzi for Windsor's first goal of the night. The assist went to Spencer Pommells and Julian Luciani. 

The Varsity Reds answered back as the second period reached its halfway mark. Cam Critchlow neatly put one away on a tic-tac-toe from Jordan Murray and Philippe Maillet. 

Four minutes later, another neat deflection from Taylor MacDougall off a shot from Gazzola would find its way past Van Buskirk and the second period would end with UNB up 5-1.

MacDougall picked up his second goal of the game less than a minute into the third. Charging unassisted to the net, he sniped one in with a loud clang off the crossbar, and it was 6-1 UNB. 

Van Buskirk was on fire for a lot of the third period, making some great saves for the Lancers, but he'd give up one more goal before the night was through. Philippe Maillet danced in and popped one past Van Buskirk to seal the deal halfway through the third. The game would end with a decisive score of 7-1.

The Varsity Reds play next on Friday, January 9, when they host UPEI at 7pm.

The Lancers play next on the same day when they travel to Sudbury, Ontario, and take on the Laurentian Voyageurs at 7:30pm (ET).