(FREDERICTON, NB) The Saint Mary's Huskies scored three times in the first period on route to a 4-2 win over the U SPORTS No. 2 ranked UNB REDS in Atlantic University Sport men's hockey action on Saturday night.
"We expected to get four points this weekend, we're fighting for second place and that's just the effort we expected and the result we expected. It was a good team effort," said Huskies' goaltender Matt Welsh (Halifax, NS) who was named Subway Player of the Game.
The Huskies jumped on the REDS early, scoring three goals in a span of less than six minutes.
Nathan Dunkley (Campbellford, ON) opened the scoring.
Sprung on a breakaway, he beat UNB's starting goaltender Samuel Richard (Ste. Catharine, QC) five-hole. Joel Bishop (St. John's, NL) and Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) followed, chasing Richard from the REDS net. Griffen Outhouse (Williams Lake, BC) took over.
In the second period, with Richard back in the REDS goal, Saint Mary's added to their lead.
Charlie Dafonseca (Thornhill, ON) made it 4-0 Huskies with his ninth goal of the season.
Austen Keating (Guelph, ON) finally got the REDS on the board at the 15:55 mark of the second period, UNB scoring their first goal of the game on their 32nd shot.
"Tonight, we just didn't have the effort," said Keating. "Obviously, the loss is extremely tough, but we're going to come in to work on Monday and we're going to work all next week to get ready to play on Friday night."
Keating would score another with 20 seconds to play in the third, too little and too late for the REDS.
"It was everything," said Keating, when asked what went wrong. "Our forecheck is a staple of this program and its where our success comes from and we only really had one guy in most of the time, so that's one thing we're going to work on this week. We're going to take a day tomorrow and come ready on Monday."
"We just have to be better," he added.
With the win, the Huskies are now 19-9-0-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) and holding on to second place in the AUS standings.
"We won the season series against them, and we feel like we have a good shot this year," said Welsh, who stopped 43 of the 45 shots he faced. "We definitely want to keep doing the right things going into playoffs. That game is just another stepping-stone toward our goal."
The REDS, who've already clinched first place in the AUS, are now 22-4-1-1.
Up next for the Huskies, a Friday evening home game against STFX.
The REDS host UPEI on Friday. Both games are scheduled to start at 7:00pm.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics