(HALIFAX, NS) The defending University Cup champs will get a chance to defend their national championship.
The UNB REDS scored a 5-1 win over the Saint Mary's Huskies Tuesday night in Halifax to win their best of five Atlantic University Sport men's hockey semi-final three-games-to-none and advance to the conference championship.
The win also qualifies the REDS for the U SPORTS men's hockey championship tournament, in Toronto, March 13-17.
"It means everything to go to the AUS final," said first year forward Sean McGurn (Ottawa, ON). "We had our goals set at the start of the season and tonight brings us one step closer, so it's awesome."
After a bit of a tentative start by both teams, the REDS exploded for three first period goals in less than ten minutes.
At 8:37 of the first, with UNB working on the power-play, McGurn took a pass from Justin Nolet (Mississauga, ON) and wired a low shot through the legs of Huskies' netminder Jeremy Helvig (Kingston, ON) to give the REDS the early lead.
"It was a nice pass from Noler," said McGurn. "We'd talked about that play in our power-play meetings, so it's awesome that our unit got to get one tonight."
At the 17:11 mark, Nico Savoie (Dieppe, NB) jumped up on the play and created a second chance opportunity which he slid past Helvig to put UNB up 2-0.
43 seconds later, at 17:54, Sam McGinley (Calgary, AB) blasted a shot past Helvig and the REDS took that 3-0 lead to the first intermission.
To start the second period, Matt Welsh (Halifax, NS) replaced Helvig in the Huskies net, but just 30 seconds in and on UNB's first shot of the period, Kale McCallum (Rothesay, NB) scored to put the REDS ahead 4-0.
Mid-way through the second, Brady Gilmour (Grafton, ON) redirected an Austen Keating (Guelph, ON) pass to put UNB up 5-0.
About five minutes into the third, Bradey Johnson (Lindsay, ON) scored for the Huskies to trim the UNB lead to four, at 5-1, but that was as close as Saint Mary's would get.
"It's a great feeling to be through to the next round," said Gilmour. "They played us hard all series and we needed contributions from everyone."
McGurn finished the night with two assists as well as his goal. Keating assisted on a pair too.
Griffen Outhouse (Williams Lake, BC) stopped 21 of the 22 Huskies shots he faced.
In the Saint Mary's net, Helvig surrendered three goals on just nine shots, taking the loss, while Welsh stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced.
"We had a big effort from our group tonight," said REDS' head coach Gardiner MacDougall. "Total contributions from everyone and we saw key team improvements."
The REDS will face l'Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus in the AUS Championship.
Like UNB, Moncton eliminated their semi-final opponent, the STFX X-Men, in three straight games.
"We still need to get better," said Gilmour. "We'll focus on Moncton starting tomorrow, but it's definitely exciting to be able to play in another AUS final."
Dates and times for the best of three AUS final will be announced later.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Eduardo Ibarra/for SMU Athletics