Varsity Reds Blank Panthers

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB Varsity Reds scored three second period goals and three more in the third, on their way to a 7-0 win over the UPEI Panthers, in exhibition play, at the Aitken University Centre, on Monday night.

Chris Clapperton(Cap Espoir, QC), Stephen Anderson(Morell, PE), Philippe Halley(Quebec City, QC), Cameron Brace(Markham, ON), Chris Caissy(Campbellton, NB), and Philippe Maillet(Terrebonne, QC), all had a goal and an assist.

Fifth year forward Cam Braes(Shawnigan Lake, SK) had three assists.

Clapperton opened the scoring, at 11:46 of the first period.

He took a pass from Maillet, just inside the left face-off circle, and beat Panthers' netminder Matt Mahalak(Monroe, MI) short side.

Anderson made it 2-0, less than four minutes into the second period.

He was able to collect his own rebound off the end boards and put it past Mahalak.

"I know I had a little bit of an advantage on the D," said Anderson. "I got a lucky bounce off the boards, and the goalie didn't react quick enough, and I got a good shot on him and was lucky enough to find the back of the net."

Halley got his goal about five minutes later and Brace made it 4-0 before the end of the second.

Caissy, Maillet and freshman Oliver Cooper scored in the third.

Anderson said it was not a case of UNB trying to run the score up.

"I don't think we put a number out there. We just went out and our goal was to play super aggressive and force the other team, challenge their defense. Whether the score is 1-0 or 10-0, as long as we get the win at the end of the day, that's all that is important to us."

"I thought we got better as the game progressed," said Varsity Reds head coach Gardiner MacDougall. "We simplified things, we had a little bit more structure as the game went, but both goalies had to make some saves and we had to kill some penalties and we had some power plays… and if you get all those things into an exhibition game, it's to our benefit."

Alex Dubeau(Mascouche, QC) and Etienne Marcoux(Terrebonne, QC) split time in the UNB net.

Dubeau faced a total of five shots in almost 31 minutes of play, while Marcoux saw nine in his 29 minutes.

UNB outshot the Panthers 32-14.

The Varsity Reds went 2-for-6 on the power-play, while UPEI was 0-for-5.

Not thrilled with the outcome, Panthers head coach Forbes MacPherson acknowledged it was an exhibition game.

"It's all about evaluating your team, the players, and where you are," said MacPherson. "It gives us an idea of the things that we have to address, starting tomorrow."

MacPherson was quick to add that the Varsity Reds are much the same team that won the CIS championship, in March.

"You have to take into consideration all their systems, their concepts, their culture, everything is all intact, whereas we've got a lot of new bodies that don't know a lot about this league and, obviously, it showed tonight that there's a lot to learn."

The Panthers next pre-season game will be Saturday, when they host Moncton, at 7:00PM.

The Varsity Reds travel to Montreal for their next exhibition game.

They take on McGill, Saturday, at 6:00PM Atlantic.