(FREDERICTON, NB) It took Thomas Casey (Charlottetown, PE) just 33 seconds to make it rain stuffed animals at UNB's Aitken Centre on Friday night, as the UNB REDS defeated the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus 4-1 in the REDS' annual Teddy Bear Toss Game.
Casey, who scored the Teddy Bear goal last season for the REDS, was able corral a missed shot from Benjamin Corbeil (Granby, QC) and bank it off the back of Aigles Bleus goaltender Etienne Montpetit (Valleyfield, QC), sending a flurry of stuffed animals to the ice.
"Corbeil got a nice puck through and I saw their goalie sliding slow to his post and thankfully I was able to bank it in," said Casey. "I was pleased to get the game going. But in the big picture we got the win so I'm more pleased about that."
Friday's game was UNB's 6th Teddy Bear Toss Game.
1743 stuffed animals were collected. They'll be cleaned before being distributed, by the Salvation Army, to less fortunate families during the holiday season.
"It's pretty funny," said Casey. "Sam Dove-McFalls, who was a great captain for us, did the same thing at one point in back-to-back years. It was funny how it works that way; I'd like to score in games other than Teddy Bear goals, but I was pleased to get it and happy with the win."
Ross McDougall (St. Stephen, NB) added to UNB's lead at the 2:32 mark of the second period, taking a feed from Kade Landry (Gowanstown, ON) and firing it past Montpetit to give the REDS a 2-0 lead.
The Aigles Bleus answered back 7:28 into the second period, working the dump and chase to perfection. Jeremy Michel (Levis, QC) found Vincent Deslauriers (Blainville, QC) open in the slot to put one past Samuel Richard (Ste. Catherine, QC) glove side to trim the deficit to one.
"My two teammates made the perfect play," said Deslauriers. "I just went into the slot and [Jeremy] Michel passed me the puck. I saw the hole low glove and was able to put it in."
Adam McCormick (Waterville, NB) added a powerplay goal at the halfway mark of the second period for UNB.
Just two minutes later Cody Morgan (Gilford, ON) added to the UNB lead, scoring on a beautiful wrap around goal making it 4-1 REDS and securing the victory.
With the win, the REDS are now 14-2-0-1 (W-L-OTL-SOL). UNB finishes the 2022 portion of their Atlantic University Sport schedule on Saturday evening, at UPEI.
"This game against UPEI is a big one," said Casey. "We just have to put together a full 60. We know they're going to be coming at us hard, so we have to play our REDS hockey and finish off the break strong."
The Aigles Bleus move to 10-8-0-0 heading into the mid-season break.
"Now we're able to have some rest and let the guys that are injured recover," said Deslauriers. "When we have everyone healthy, I think we're a pretty good team so that will be important."
RECAP BY: Evan Richtsfeld/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics