V-Reds take close game against Axemen
February 3, 2012
WOLFVILLE – The University of New Brunswick men’s hockey team stayed in first place in the tight AUS standings with a key 3-2 road win over Acadia in a tight game Friday night. Nick MacNeil scored the winner to break the tie early in the third period while Travis Fullerton made 22 saves for his ninth win in nine starts.
UNB was given an early scoring opportunity when Axemen defenceman Cullen Morin (Meadow Lake, SK) was called for holding just 19 seconds into the game. It only took the Varsity Reds 20 seconds to take advantage on the power play when Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) tipped a Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) point shot Peter DiSalvo (Oakville, ON). It was UNB’s first shot on net.
Acadia tied the game late in the period on their second power play. After UNB captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) had a couple of good shorthanded scoring chances play went back into the UNB zone. Acadia d-man Chris Owens (St. John’s, NL) was deep in the V-Reds zone when he faked a pass and let a quick shot go that beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) five-hole at 17:36. Shots in the first period favoured Acadia 10-7.
Not long after successfully killing off a penalty the Axemen took the lead at 3:55 of the second period when Jonathan Laberge (Ste-Foy, QC) came off the wall with the puck and skated across the slot before snapping a quick shot that fooled Fullerton. There was some confusion after the goal as UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall called Fullerton to the bench and sent Dan LaCosta (Labrador City, NL) into the nets. However less than two minutes later Fullerton was back in the UNB net and stayed the rest of the game.
The latter half of the second period certainly saw the territorial play swing UNB’s way and they were finally rewarded at 17:01 when Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) stickhandled through traffic and beat DiSalvo through the wickets to tie the game once again. Shots in the second period were 15-5 for UNB.
The third period saw Acadia turn to get the early power play, and after a strong penalty kill UNB went ahead at 3:18 when Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) scored from pinching defenceman Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB). That goal would stand as the winner as the V-Reds ground out the rest of the period and tried to nullify any Acadia comeback. Fullerton had to make one really good save late in the game, but he wasn’t overly tested in a period where the Axemen did outshoot UNB 9-5.
With the win UNB’s record improves to 17-5-2 with just four games left in the regular season. Acadia started the night in a three way tie for second place with Saint Mary’s and Moncton, but after all the Friday games they slipped to a fourth place tie with UPEI as SMU won and UdeM picked up one point for losing in overtime. The V-Reds will play Dalhousie in Halifax on Saturday night while the Axemen will host the Panthers.
Note: Forward Taylor MacDougall and defenceman Josh Kidd made their return to the UNB line-up after being out with injuires.
UNB was given an early scoring opportunity when Axemen defenceman Cullen Morin (Meadow Lake, SK) was called for holding just 19 seconds into the game. It only took the Varsity Reds 20 seconds to take advantage on the power play when Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) tipped a Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) point shot Peter DiSalvo (Oakville, ON). It was UNB’s first shot on net.
Acadia tied the game late in the period on their second power play. After UNB captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) had a couple of good shorthanded scoring chances play went back into the UNB zone. Acadia d-man Chris Owens (St. John’s, NL) was deep in the V-Reds zone when he faked a pass and let a quick shot go that beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) five-hole at 17:36. Shots in the first period favoured Acadia 10-7.
Not long after successfully killing off a penalty the Axemen took the lead at 3:55 of the second period when Jonathan Laberge (Ste-Foy, QC) came off the wall with the puck and skated across the slot before snapping a quick shot that fooled Fullerton. There was some confusion after the goal as UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall called Fullerton to the bench and sent Dan LaCosta (Labrador City, NL) into the nets. However less than two minutes later Fullerton was back in the UNB net and stayed the rest of the game.
The latter half of the second period certainly saw the territorial play swing UNB’s way and they were finally rewarded at 17:01 when Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) stickhandled through traffic and beat DiSalvo through the wickets to tie the game once again. Shots in the second period were 15-5 for UNB.
The third period saw Acadia turn to get the early power play, and after a strong penalty kill UNB went ahead at 3:18 when Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) scored from pinching defenceman Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB). That goal would stand as the winner as the V-Reds ground out the rest of the period and tried to nullify any Acadia comeback. Fullerton had to make one really good save late in the game, but he wasn’t overly tested in a period where the Axemen did outshoot UNB 9-5.
With the win UNB’s record improves to 17-5-2 with just four games left in the regular season. Acadia started the night in a three way tie for second place with Saint Mary’s and Moncton, but after all the Friday games they slipped to a fourth place tie with UPEI as SMU won and UdeM picked up one point for losing in overtime. The V-Reds will play Dalhousie in Halifax on Saturday night while the Axemen will host the Panthers.
Note: Forward Taylor MacDougall and defenceman Josh Kidd made their return to the UNB line-up after being out with injuires.