Reds Win Teddy Bear Toss Game
6-1 win over Acadia
(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB Reds scored four power-play goals on route to a 6-1 win over the Acadia Axemen on Saturday.
Chris Clapperton (Cap d'Espoir, QC) and Tyler Boland (St. John's, NL) each scored twice for the Reds, while Kris Bennett (Brampton, ON), and Joe Gatenby (Kelowna, BC) each had three assists.
Matthew Boucher (Los Angeles, Calif.) had a goal and an assist for UNB, while Samuel Dove-McFalls (Montreal, QC) also scored.
Acadia actually struck first, when Stephen Harper (Burlington, ON) scored, on the power-play, at 5:42 of the first period.
Kyle Farrell (Howie Centre, NS) won a face-off right back to Harper, who's shot eluded Reds netminder Alex Dubeau (Mascouche, QC).
UNB countered with their first power-play goal about two-and-a-half minutes later.
Boucher's shot from the face-off circle was kicked out by Axemen netminder Dawson Carty (Burlington, ON) but Dove-McFalls was right there to fire the rebound home.
That goal sent almost 1300 stuffed animals flying onto the Aitken Centre ice and brought the game to a temporary halt.
It was the Reds 3rd annual Teddy Bear Toss.
"The fans did a really great job. It's for a great cause," said Gatenby. "I've been lucky enough, in junior, to hand out some of those teddy bears to kids. It's so awesome to see the smiles on faces."
1295 stuffed animals were collected and will be distributed by the Salvation Army to less fortunate children during the upcoming holiday season.
The Reds erupted for three goals, all on the power-play, in the second period.
At 5:11, with UNB working 5-on-3, Clapperton took a Stephen Anderson pass and one-timed it, short side, past Carty.
The assist was the 50th of Anderson's Atlantic University Sport career.
45 seconds later, and with the Reds working 5-on-4, Boucher scored on an Anderson pass to give UNB a 3-1 lead.
At 18:51, and with the man-advantage once again, Clapperton scored his second of the game, a pretty re-direct of a Boland slap-pass to make it a 4-1 game.
Boland scored the game's first even strength goal at 9:07 of the third period.
He rounded out the scoring with his second of the night, a rocket of a one-timer off a Boucher drop-pass, with just 2:00 to play.
"We did a good job of capitalizing on our power-plays, and that opened the game up a little for us," said Gatenby. "It was definitely still a challenging game and it really pushed us."
Going 4-for-6 on the power-play helped.
"Special teams are a massive part of the game," said Gatenby. "They, definitely, can win you a hockey game and today they did."
Dubeau earned the win in the UNB net, stopping 26 of the 27 shots he faced.
Carty took the loss, stopping 42 of 48 shots.
"We are young," admitted Axemen head coach Darren Burns. "They're working as hard as they can, but just to get acclimatized to this league, it's tough."
With the win, the Reds improve to 13-0-3.
They wrap up the first half of the season next weekend with visits to Saint Mary's, on Friday, and Acadia, on Saturday.
The Axemen, now 4-9-2, host UPEI on Friday, before Saturday's re-match with the Reds.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics