(ANTIGONISH, NS) The U SPORTS No. 1 ranked UNB Reds beat the No. 10 St FX X-Men 5-1 on Friday.
The game saw the X-Men get into early penalty trouble and the visiting Reds made them pay as Stephen Anderson (Morell, PE) netted two power play goals in the opening 10 minutes.
The 2-0 score stood after 20 minutes.
Undisciplined play resulted in 46 minutes in penalties in the final period alone.
Both teams were held scoreless in the middle period.
Mark Simpson (Rothesay, NB) upped the Reds lead to 3-0 just over a minute into the third period on a nifty backhander he directly blindly into the St FX net off a UNB rush.
Fifth year forward Cam Brace (Etobicoke, ON) drew an assist on Simpson's goal, his 100th career Atlantic University Sport point.
At 7:48 of the third, Brace added his 101st point when he scored to make it 4-0 for the Reds.
The X-Men finally cracked the goose egg as Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, NS) connected with Sam Studnicka (Windsor, ON) while short-handed, scoring the only goal that would beat Rylan Parenteau (Saskatoon, SK) in the Reds net.
UNB rounded out the scoring with a Mark Rassell (Calgary, AB) goal with six and a half minutes left.
The Reds held the X-Men to only two shots in the final period, as Parenteau picked up his seventh win of the season.
Freshman Blade Mann-Dixon (Antigonish, NS) was tagged with the loss in the St FX net.
With a three-point night, UNB's Anderson took home first star and Subway Player of the Game honours. Reds forward Rassell was the second star and X-Men forward Studnicka the third star.
The X-Men look to regroup as they hit the ice again on Saturday, hosting the UPEI Panthers.
The Reds travel to Halifax to take on Dalhousie. Both games are 7:00pm starts.
RECAP BY: St FX Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Andrew Barkhouse, for St FX Athletics