Fredericton (October 24, 2010)
Saturday night in a game closer than the
final score, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds defeated the
opportunistic Acadia Axemen men's hockey team 5-2 before 2225 fans at the
Aitken University Centre. The score was 3-2 for UNB after two periods, with
the V-Reds scoring two goals late in the the game to
finally secure the
win.
Like the night before, UNB came out strong and dominated the early play. At 8:07 defenceman Josh Hepditch (Fredericton, NB) pinched in
along the boards to keep the strong cycle going and fired the loose puck to Jeff Lee (Calgary, AB) who passed it to linemate Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) who then beat Acadia goaltender Kristofer Westblom (Meadow Lake, SK). The physical play increased at the period continued until Acadia captain Chris Bruton (Calgary, AB) went too far and picked
up a two minute minor for contact to the head and automatic ten minute
misconduct for a late hit along the boards at 18:30. UNB only took 31
seconds to take advantage of the situation, with UNB captain Kyle Bailey
(Ponoka, AB) hitting Hunter Tremblay (Timmins, ON) with a perfect pass on
the rush, and Westblom had little chance to make the save. Shots in the
first period favoured UNB 10-3.
UNB increased their lead to 3-0 at 4:29
of the second period when they won the draw in the offensive zone and
rookie Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) picked the top corner for his first
goal as a Varsity Red. Acadia
got back into the game on a great individual
effort by Joe Gaynor (Goderich, ON), as he fought off UNB defeneman Bretton
Stamler (Edmonton, AB) on a near breakaway, and somehow put the puck up
and
over Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) and under the crossbar for a highlight reel goal. Acadia almost drew within a goal at 10:24, when the shorthanded Axemen took advantage of a UNB turnover and Scott
Tregunna (Mt. Forest, ON) rifled a shot that went along the ice and through Fullerton's pads, hit the iron at the back of the net, and came
back out so quickly that it fooled the goal judge, referee Scott Lockhart
and the Acadia bench. With no video replay in the AUS, there was no chance
for the apparent goal to count. At 18:12 the Axemen did get a goal that
counted, and another highlight reel goal, when Jacob Dietrich (Deloraine,
MB) tipped a Spencer Jezegou (Oshawa, ON) pass just under the UNB crossbar.
UNB outshot Acadia 12-8 in the middle period.
The third period saw
chances at both ends but no scoring until late in the period. At 12:01
Ryan Graham (Mount Pearl, NF) hammered Josh Hepditch into the boards in
front of the Acadia bench, and was assessed a five-minute major for
checking from behind and an automatic game misconduct. UNB wasn't
generating many scoring chances on the power play until they had a
five-on-three man advantage when Leo Jenner (Mossley, ON) was called for
elbowing Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS). Gallant and Josh Kidd (Sundridge, ON)
passed the puck back and forth on the points looking for the perfect
one-timer opportunity before Gallant finally unloaded on Westblom at 16:04,
much to the joy of the antsy fans. UNB added a late goal with 28 seconds to
go, when after some strong and sustained forechecking Ryan Seymour (Fredericton, NB) was able to muscle the puck into the net. Shots in the final period were 13-9 in favour of UNB.
UNB outshot Acadia 35-20
in the 5-2 victory. UNB was 2-for-6 on the power play while Acadia was 0-for-4. The three stars of the game were: 1. Jonathan Harty 2. Joe Gaynor
3. Kyle Bailey. The V-Red finish the weekend in second place in the AUS;
the undefeated StFX X-Men are two points ahead for first place in the
standings.
By David Kilfoil for the UNB Varsity Reds.
1 comment:
Acadia has a solid-looking team and will be a team to be reckoned with over next number of years. With their speed they can capitalize very quickly. Fun game to watch Saturday.
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