Reds Roll Over Moncton

(FREDERICTON, NB) It was a tough night to be an Aigles Bleus netminder.

The UNB Reds scored four goals in the first period and four more in the second period, on their way to a 10-0 win over Moncton in the 2019 Mark Jeffrey Memorial Game.

Chris Clapperton (Cap d'Espoir, QC) led the UNB attack with a goal and three assists. He was named the Subway Player of the Game.

"The boys were rolling tonight. We needed that," said Clapperton. "We had a good start. The last few games, we didn't have the start we wanted. We did pretty good tonight."

The home side got their ball rolling early, on their first power-play of the evening.

Kris Bennett (Brampton, ON) tipped a shot from the point that eluded Etienne Montpetit (Valleyfield, QC) at 8:45 of the first period to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, and with the Reds killing off a Bennett penalty, Clapperton and Matthew Boucher (Los Angeles, CA) found themselves with a 2-on-0 break.

Boucher finished the tic-tac-toe passing play and the Reds went up 2-0.

With time winding down in the opening frame, the Reds scored twice in a span 28 seconds.

Goals by Mark Rassell (Calgary, AB) and Joe Gatenby (Kelowna, BC) sent UNB to the first intermission with a 4-0 lead.

Moncton made a goaltendeing change to start the second period, with Alexi Thibaudeau (Gatineau, QC) replacing Montpetit.

Marcus McIvor (Whitby, NB) was the first Red to beat Thibaudeau, scoring his first goal of the season, off a nice cross-the-slot pass from Clapperton to make it 5-0.

Cam Brace (Etobicoke, ON) and Stephen Anderson (Morell, PE) scored as UNB extended the lead to 7-0 before Clapperton's 11^th goal of the season made it 8-0.

"I played with good players," said Clapperton. "I played with Boland and Anderson, we're back together. They made a couple of good plays, nice passes by Boland. It was good."

In a chippy third period, Matt Boudens (Pembroke, ON) and Randy Gazzola (Thorold, ON) scored to push UNB's total to 10.

As if to underline what a difficult night it was for the Moncton goalies, Thibaudeau took a shot of the mask late in the third. The shot sent his mask flying into the corner. Thibaudeau was unhurt.

Near the 15-minute mark of the final period, Ryan Chiasson (Dieppe, NB) broke in alone on Dubeau, but the Reds keeper made the stop.

"There's a lot of pressure there, you're just trying to get one and break the shut-out," said Chiasson. "It would've been nice to get it and get a little bit of confidence, but it didn't bounce my way."

With less than a minute to play, Vincent Deslauriers (Blainville, QC) hit the post, preserving Dubeau's first shut-out of the season.

"We didn't show up, and they just came ready and handed it to us," said Chiasson.

In all, ten different UNB players scored goals, ten different players had multiple point nights, and 15 of UNB's 19 players had at least one point, including Dubeau.

"We played the right way, and that was our game plan," said Gazzola. "We know we have the team that when we play the right way, we can do something special. It's a by-product of us practicing hard and coming together."

The ten-goal margin of victory makes the 2019 edition the most lopsided of the 27 Mark Jeffrey Games to date.

Prior to Wednesday's game, Gazzola was named the recipient of the 2018-19 Mark Jeffrey Memorial Award, the most prestigious scholarship in UNB's men's hockey program.

Gazzola says the game and the night hold a great deal of meaning to the team, especially considering last season's loss in the Jeffrey Game.

"Considering what happened last year, we wanted to make sure that we did right by him and did right by the family too, especially with the passing in their family recently. We played for them. We played for each other in the room and the result speaks for itself."

UNB outshot les Aigles Bleus 52-17.

With the win, the Reds are now 19-1-3 and sit first in the Atlantic University Sport standings.

Moncton is 11-9-3 and continues to hold third place.

Moncton now returns home for a Saturday night game against UPEI.

The Reds visit Charlottetown on Friday to face the Panthers.

Both games are scheduled for 7:00pm starts.

RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics