(MONCTON, NB) Fourth-year Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus goaltender Ètienne Montpetit stopped 43 of 44 UNB shots on route to a 4-1 win over the visiting REDS in game three of their best of five Atlantic University Sport semi-final, Tuesday night, in Moncton.
"Now we've got a series," said REDS' head coach Gardiner MacDougall. "We had some convincing wins, but this is a team that plays with a lot of emotion, so we have to find ways, the little details. We get a chance to play the first period again tomorrow, so it starts with that."
Montpetit, named Subway Player of the Game, made 20 saves in the second period alone.
The REDS started quickly and aggressively.
In the opening minute of the game, Benjamin Corbeil (Granby, QC) was sprung on a breakaway, but couldn't settle a bouncing puck and didn't get a shot off.
A relentless UNB forecheck gave the visitors an 11-1 shots advantage before the period was ten minutes old.
But it was the home team that opened the scoring.
Off a play where a Moncton forward appeared to hold a UNB defender, Jérémy Michel (Levis, QC) scored at the 19:00 minute mark and les Aigles Bleus took a 1-0 lead to the first intermission.
Despite being outshot 20-4 in the period, Moncton added to their lead in the second.
Charles Edouard Drouin ISt-Georges-de-Beauce, QC) scored at 8:14, giving les Aigles Bleus a 2-0 advantage.
Moncton had a chance to extend their lead just before the mid-way point of the third period when they were awarded a penalty shot, but REDS goaltender Samuel Richard (Ste. Catherine, QC) denied Olivier-Luc Hache (Savoie Landing, NB).
Moncton would get goals from Edouard St-Laurent (Levis, QC) and Alexis Arsenault (Bonaventure, QC) before the REDS would spoil Montpetit's shutout bid.
Camaryn Baber (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) took a cross-crease pass and fired a one-timer to the back of the next with just 20 seconds to play.
"It was more just getting in on the forecheck, getting hits late, and trying to dictate the game for tomorrow more than anything," said Baber. "Obviously, we'd have liked to end it tonight, but there's another game tomorrow and we'll be right back at it."
"We're a team that plays better with the lead and we didn't respond as well, then we had a disappointing third period but now we get a good opportunity to respond tomorrow night," said Coach MacDougall. "It's AUS playoffs, so you've got to find ways to get better every night."
With the win, Moncton forces a fourth game.
It goes Wednesday at 7:00pm, at Moncton's J. Louis Levesque Arena.
"'We're already moving on to tomorrow," said Baber as he left the rink. "We'll be ready for tomorrow and we know what we have to do."
The winner of the UNB-Moncton series will face the Saint Mary's Huskies in the AUS Championship series.
RECAP AND PHOTOS BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics