V-Reds lose close one to Huskies
February 6, 2011
HALIFAX – The No. 1 ranked University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds lost a close game 3-1 Friday night to the No. 6 Saint Mary's Huskies, the second time this season the V-Reds have lost by that score at the Halifax Forum. The loss halts first place UNB's winning streak at 10 games, and evens their season series against the second place Huskies, with each team winning their two home games.
From the opening whistle this was very much a playoff style game played at high speed, with close checking and few true scoring chances, what you would expect from rivals who have won the last two University Cups. One pattern that developed early was that almost every time UNB's leading scorers Hunter Tremblay (Timmins, ON) and Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) were on the ice they found the line of Cam Fergus (Brantford, ON), Lucas Bloodoff (Castlegar, BC) and Cory Tanaka (Stouffville, ON) were matched against them. The shutdown trio did their job all night, keeping Tremblay and Culligan off the score sheet.
The first penalties of the game came at 16:59 when UNB defencemen Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) got into an incident with Chris MacKinnon (Richmond Hill, ON) along the boards near the V-Reds bench. A scrum ensued, including 6'7” SMU defencemen Justin Wallingford (Hamilton, ON) roaring in late knocking over players like bowling pins. Wright was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for high sticking, MacKinnon a double-minor penalty for the spearing retaliation, and Wallingford a minor for roughing. UNB ended up with a 4-on-3 power play, and although they didn't score during the two minutes, seconds after Wallingford came out of the box to make it 4-on-4 play V-Reds forward Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) was still at the back door order to tap in the puck behind Neil Conway (Painesville, OH) at 19:03.
The second period was fairly even until 10:22 when MacKinnon came flying into the UNB zone on the right side of the ice with a step on the versatile Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PEI), who had just that shift had been moved from the energy line to defence. MacKinnon snapped a shot on the rush that beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) over his left shoulder to tie the game. Five minutes later Fergus came down the left side on the rush, and fired a shot along the ice from the left circle that beat Fullerton inside the far post to put the Huskies ahead 2-1.
UNB had a couple of glorious chances to tie the game in the first half of the third period, including Conway robbing Tremblay from close in and a Bretton Stamler blast on a power play that rang off the post, then the crossbar, and then up an onto the top of the net. At 10:13 the Huskies benefited from a lucky bounce, when the puck suddenly caromed out of the corner at an odd angle instead of continuing on behind the net. The puck went right to Brad Smith all alone in the slot who had an easy goal against Fullerton who was caught flat-footed on the play. The V-Reds put on a furious push in the last half of the period, but they were unable to get another puck past Conway. UNB outshot SMU 26-23 in front of 1335 fans at the Forum. Neither team scored on the power play.
While the loss had no affect on the standings for UNB, who clinched first place last week, captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) was frank in his assessment of their play. “It wasn't good enough tonight, not even close. I don't really know how else to break down the game. Myself, I was atrocious. Hunter, Cully, our top guys we weren't good enough. I don't think our foot soldiers were good enough. Our goaltending wasn't good enough. Our defense wasn't good enough. They're a good team but we're a good team too. Full marks to them, they played well. I thought we had an abysmal effort in my opinion.”
The 20-5-0 V-Reds are back home Wednesday night when the host the St. Thomas Tommies in the 20th annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial Game, which will also be the first ever “Pink in the Rink” event in support of breast cancer research.
From the opening whistle this was very much a playoff style game played at high speed, with close checking and few true scoring chances, what you would expect from rivals who have won the last two University Cups. One pattern that developed early was that almost every time UNB's leading scorers Hunter Tremblay (Timmins, ON) and Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) were on the ice they found the line of Cam Fergus (Brantford, ON), Lucas Bloodoff (Castlegar, BC) and Cory Tanaka (Stouffville, ON) were matched against them. The shutdown trio did their job all night, keeping Tremblay and Culligan off the score sheet.
The first penalties of the game came at 16:59 when UNB defencemen Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) got into an incident with Chris MacKinnon (Richmond Hill, ON) along the boards near the V-Reds bench. A scrum ensued, including 6'7” SMU defencemen Justin Wallingford (Hamilton, ON) roaring in late knocking over players like bowling pins. Wright was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for high sticking, MacKinnon a double-minor penalty for the spearing retaliation, and Wallingford a minor for roughing. UNB ended up with a 4-on-3 power play, and although they didn't score during the two minutes, seconds after Wallingford came out of the box to make it 4-on-4 play V-Reds forward Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) was still at the back door order to tap in the puck behind Neil Conway (Painesville, OH) at 19:03.
The second period was fairly even until 10:22 when MacKinnon came flying into the UNB zone on the right side of the ice with a step on the versatile Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PEI), who had just that shift had been moved from the energy line to defence. MacKinnon snapped a shot on the rush that beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) over his left shoulder to tie the game. Five minutes later Fergus came down the left side on the rush, and fired a shot along the ice from the left circle that beat Fullerton inside the far post to put the Huskies ahead 2-1.
UNB had a couple of glorious chances to tie the game in the first half of the third period, including Conway robbing Tremblay from close in and a Bretton Stamler blast on a power play that rang off the post, then the crossbar, and then up an onto the top of the net. At 10:13 the Huskies benefited from a lucky bounce, when the puck suddenly caromed out of the corner at an odd angle instead of continuing on behind the net. The puck went right to Brad Smith all alone in the slot who had an easy goal against Fullerton who was caught flat-footed on the play. The V-Reds put on a furious push in the last half of the period, but they were unable to get another puck past Conway. UNB outshot SMU 26-23 in front of 1335 fans at the Forum. Neither team scored on the power play.
While the loss had no affect on the standings for UNB, who clinched first place last week, captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) was frank in his assessment of their play. “It wasn't good enough tonight, not even close. I don't really know how else to break down the game. Myself, I was atrocious. Hunter, Cully, our top guys we weren't good enough. I don't think our foot soldiers were good enough. Our goaltending wasn't good enough. Our defense wasn't good enough. They're a good team but we're a good team too. Full marks to them, they played well. I thought we had an abysmal effort in my opinion.”
The 20-5-0 V-Reds are back home Wednesday night when the host the St. Thomas Tommies in the 20th annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial Game, which will also be the first ever “Pink in the Rink” event in support of breast cancer research.