Reds Rally Past Tigers
UNB 4-2 over Dal
(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB Reds scored twice in the final 1:13 to beat the Dalhousie Tigers 4-2 on Saturday night.
Matt Boucher (Los Angeles, CA) had a goal and an assist to lead UNB in their come from behind victory and was named Subway Player of the Game.
"It was a big effort in the third period," said Boucher. "I think everyone stepped up. I think we played a decent period in the first, stepped up in the second and third, so it feels really good."
The Tigers quieted a large crowd of more than 3300, scoring the game's first two goals.
They opened the scoring at 4:23 of the first period.
Jonathan Cyr (Ottawa, ON) had a couple of whacks at a loose puck at the side of the UNB net, eventually banging it past Rylan Parenteau (Saskatoon, SK).
Dalhousie extended their lead to 2-0 when Connor Welsh (Halifax, NS) scored on the power-play, at 16:01 of the second.
But, just 1:20 later, Boucher pushed a loose puck past Connor Hicks (Kanata, ON) in the Dal net, the first of four unanswered UNB goals.
Two minutes into the third, Oliver Cooper (Fredericton, NB) tied the game, spurring the large crowd.
With about four minutes to play, Dal's Mike Evelyn (Ottawa, ON) had a chance to put the Tigers back in front, but Parenteau was able to make a sprawling pad save, robbing the 5th year forward.
"He took one away from me there, in my last game, one of my last shifts too," said Evelyn. "It taught me a lesson, you've got to put it upstairs. I'll remember that for beer league."
"That was unbelievable," said Boucher, of the save. "In a 2-2 game, you need guys to step up. I think he really stepped up. We can't win that game without him making a couple of big saves, so that was big for us."
With 1:13 to play and UNB on the power-play, Kris Bennett (Brampton, ON) found a loose puck at the side of the Tigers net and fired it past Hicks, giving the Reds their first lead of the night.
"The puck was just behind the goal, the goalie wasn't in position, I just grabbed it and stuffed it in, it was a wide-open net. I didn't do a whole lot," said Bennett.
Matt Murphy (Fredericton, NB) scored into an empty net at 19:13.
"We seem to put our best foot forward against the best teams," said Evelyn. "If we could figure out how to do that regularly, we'd have a lot more wins."
The Reds finish the Atlantic University Sport regular season with a 25-2-3 record, earning their 12th consecutive AUS regular season title and a first-round playoff bye for the 13th year in a row.
UNB opens the second round of the playoffs on Thursday, February 21st, against a yet to be determined opponent.
The Tigers finish with a 7-22-1 record, and will miss the AUS playoffs.
RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics