(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB REDS extended their current winning streak to nine games with a 3-1 win over the visiting Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus on Friday.
The win took place before a sold-out Aitken Centre, a fully vaccinated and masked crowd of 3374.
First-year REDS forward Thomas Casey (Charlottetown, PE) opened the scoring just 1:53 into the game, bringing a flurry of stuffed animals to the ice.
Friday's game was UNB's 5th Teddy Bear Toss game.
1577 stuffed animals were collected and will be cleaned before being distributed by the Salvation Army to less fortunate families during the holiday season.
"James McEwan and Isaac Nurse won a good battle on the wall and Nursey popped it out to me and I just tried to make a quick move and luckily it went in," said Casey. "It was awesome to see those stuffed animals fly. It's for a great cause over the holidays. We were happy to get the first goal because we didn't want the teddies waiting too long."
Nicolas Guay (Chateauguay, QC) added to UNB's lead at the 8:58 mark of the opening period, forcing Moncton head coach Judes Vallée to call an early time-out.
"We gave up two goals on the first six shots," said Vallée. "In the time-out, I just told them to be calm, play a simple game and work hard."
The tactic worked and the REDS led 2-0 after one period.
The Aigles Bleus trimmed their deficit to one 3:15 into the second period when Michael Cyr (Sainte-Anne, NB) broke around a REDS defenceman and raced down the right wing before wristing a shot past Rylan Parenteau (Sasksatoon, SK) in the UNB net.
That was the only goal of the period, as Aigles Bleus netminder Emile Samson (Levis, QC) turned aside all 11 shots he faced during the frame.
Mark Rassell (Calgary, AB) added a late power-play goal for UNB.
Then, down 3-1, Vallée pulled Samson in favour of a sixth attacker with 1:25 to play, but a late penalty to Moncton's Gabriel Vanier (Boisbriand, QC) saw Samson return to the net with 23 seconds to play.
"For us, it was important to come back and I think we did, but it wasn't enough. When you don't score, it's tough to win," said Vallée.
"Moncton came out hard, and we knew they would," said Casey. "They really wanted a win and so did we, so we're happy to come out on top. I think we needed contributions from everyone, with us short bodies, and we got them."
With the win, the REDS are now 16-1-0-0. UNB finishes the 2021 portion of their Atlantic University Sport schedule on Saturday evening, at UPEI.
"I think the guys adjusted pretty well and had all kinds of ice time," said REDS head coach Gardiner MacDougall, of a line-up nursing a few injuries. "Sometimes you have adversity, and it's how you deal with it. I thought the whole group worked well. Rylan made some key saves, that's part of his duties, and the D unit and the forwards."
Moncton, now 5-12-1-0, return to action on January 5th, 2022, when they host UPEI.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics