Maillet Leads USports All-Stars In Loss

(BOISBRIAND, QC) UNB's Philippe Maillet scored a goal and added an assist for the U Sports All-Stars in a 5-3 loss to the national junior team prospects, in Boisbriand, Quebec, Monday night.

Sam Steel, of Sherwood Park, Alberta, scored twice for the juniors, who led 2-0 after one period and jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the second period was five minutes old.

The U Sports Stars mounted a spirited comeback, with three goals in two minutes and 39 seconds, narrowing the gap to 4-3 after 40 minutes.

Steel, a first-round draft-pick of the Anaheim Ducks, scored his second goal on a third period power-play to end the U Sports comeback.

Maillet, of Terrebonne, Quebec, scored to make it a 4-1 game, then worked with Varsity Reds teammate Jordan Murray, of Riverview, New Brunswick, to set up Carleton forward Brett Welychka, of London, Ontario, on a power-play just 58 seconds later.

31 seconds after that, the collegians struck again when McGill defenceman Nathan Chiarlitti, of Maple, Ontario, connected.

"We had a tough time in the first period turning pucks over and it continued on for the first 10 minutes of the second," said U Sports head coach Brett Gibson, who serves as head coach at Queen's. "But once we started taking care of the puck, we started to create a lot of opportunities. We had four 2-on-1 chances in that period, plus a breakaway. If we score on some of those, it might've been a different game. We showed a lot of character to come back against that team which has a bunch of first-round picks."

The prospects camp roster has 31 players that have been drafted by NHL teams, including 14 first-rounders. The U Sports lineup featured 22 of 23 players with a background in major junior hockey but only two of them drafted - Acadia's Geoff Schemitsch(Tampa Bay, 2010) and Saskatchewan's Kendall McFaull(Atlanta, 2010).

Philadelphia Flyers pick Carter Hart collected the win between the pipes. He saved all 10 shots faced before giving way to Michael McNiven midway through the second. McNiven kicked aside 10 of 13 shots.

As is usually the case, Hockey Canada puts one of their goaltenders in the U Sports net and Connor Ingram drew the short straw. A third-round selection by Tampa, he turned aside 24 of 29 shots in a losing cause.

"The first 10 minutes we kind of just dipped our toes in and weren't really sure what to expect," said Calgary's Elgin Pearce, who had two assists in the contest but was also called for three minor penalties.

"But once we got our legs under us, we knew we could skate with them and we started to turn the game around."

The teams will meet again on Tuesday afternoon at 1:00PM Eastern(2:00PM Atlantic.)

GAME NOTES: The juniors lead the all-time series with 12 victories in 17 games against various university configurations since 2003. Hockey Canada uses these preliminary games as preparation before their final cuts prior to the IIHF World Junior Championship.

SCORING SUMMARY

U Sports All-Stars 3 at Canada Jrs 5
(Monday, December 12, 2016 - Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau @ Boisbriand, Que.)

GOALS BY PERIOD
U Sports All-Stars 0-3-0 -- 3
Canada Jrs 2-2-1 -- 5

1st Period-
1, Canada Jrs, Dylan Strome 1 (Chabot), 5:49 (PP).
2, Canada Jrs, Taylor Raddysh 1 (Myers, Dube), 13:48.

Penalties-Pearce U Sports (holding), 5:11; Wagner Can (hooking), 7:01.

2nd Period-
3, Canada Jrs, Sam Steel 1 (unassisted), 3:06.
4, Canada Jrs, Mitchell Stephens 1 (Senyshyn, Chabot), 4:09.
5, U Sports All-Stars, Philippe Maillet 1 (Pearce), 13:23.
6, U Sports All-Stars, Brett Welychka 1 (Murray, Maillet), 15:31 (PP).
7, U Sports All-Stars, Nathan Chiarlitti 1 (Pearce, Crooks), 16:02.

Penalties-Pearce U Sports (boarding), 4:48; Pearce U Sports (high sticking), 11:16; Merkley Can (slashing), 13:30.

3rd Period-
8, Canada Jrs, Sam Steel 2 (Barzal, Myers), 11:31 (PP).

Penalties-McNamee U Sports (tripping), 5:48; Sheppard U Sports (goaltender interference), 10:10; Clague Can (interference), 10:10; Barzal Can (hooking), 11:41; Stephens Can (hooking), 15:54.

Shots on Goal-
U Sports All-Stars 7-10-6 -- 23.
Canada Jrs 11-13-5 -- 29.

Power Play Opportunities-
U Sports All-Stars 1 / 5;
Canada Jrs 2 / 5.

Goalies-
U Sports All-Stars,
Connor Ingram (L, 0-1-0, 29 shots-24 saves; 58:53).

Canada Jrs,
Carter Hart (Start, W, 1-0-0, 10 shots-10 saves; 30:39);
Michael McNiven (ND, 13 shots-10 saves; 29:21).

Attendance: 1012

THREE STARS:

1. CAN - 11 Sam Steel
2. USPRT - 16 Philippe Maillet
3. USPRT - 7 Elgin Pearce