CIS Men’s Hockey Top 10 (#7): UNB falls to third

With seven weeks complete in the AUS, the CIS has released the seventh Top 10 Rankings of the year. UNB has moved back down to the third spot with two weekend losses. UPEI has fallen down to seventh, while Saint Mary's has moved up to fifth.

Here's how the rankings look in the seventh media poll.

(Regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (last week)

1. Alberta (11-2-1) / 169 pts (8) / (1)

2. McGill (14-0-1) / 155 (10) / (3)

3. UNB (10-4-0) / 139 / (2)

4. Western Ontario (12-0-3) / 124 / (4)

5. Saint Mary’s (8-4-1) / 88 / (7)

6. Saskatchewan (8-6-0) / 68 / (6)

7. UPEI (8-4-2) / 67 / (5)

8. Manitoba (7-3-4) / 63 / (8)

9. Lakehead (11-4-1) / 62 / (9)

10. Waterloo (11-5-0) / 21 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: Calgary (20), Acadia (11), Dalhousie (2), Carleton (1). The full story can be found here.

Dal destroys V-Reds

There's no sugar coating this one. The Tigers delivered a beating to the V-Reds that they haven't felt in some time at Dalhousie. The win-streak vs. Dalhousie ends at 14 games. Final score was 6-3 for the Tigers. Derek Yeomans started the game, was replaced, and eventually returned in goal for UNB. Bobby Nadeau stopped an amazing 52 of 55 shots to secure the win for the Tigers. For those keeping tabs, UNB got goals from Bailey, Culligan, and Hepditch.

Dalhousie had a productive weekend, beating the top 2 teams in the conference on home ice and scoring 12 goals in the process. UNB is limping home after its worst road trip in a very long time. The AUS standings are getting interesting as the top 6 teams are separated by a mere 5 points.

UNB has one more game before the break, this Friday vs. UdeM.

V-Reds @ Tigers 7pm tonight!

The AUS #1 ranked V-Reds (10-3-0) do battle in Halifax tonight at the Dalhousie Arena against the AUS #6 ranked DAL Tigers (7-6-0) at 7pm. The V-Reds have beat the Tigers their last 14 meetings, and will look to carry on this steak tonight.

The V-Reds, coming off their third loss of the season last night to Acadia (6-5-2), will look to reverse their fortunes tonight and to maintain their lead over the AUS #2 UPEI Panthers (8-3-2) who are only two points back. The V-Reds are led in scoring by Hunter Tremblay and Chris Culligan with 20 and 18 points respectively. Tremblay will be once again looking to get that extra point that will propel him into sole possession of first place in regular season points in the history of UNB hockey.

The Tigers come into the game on a three game winning streak where they have shown that they can grit it out and win big games. Their last three games, all overtime victories, were against the AUS #5 ranked Axemen, the #3 ranked Huskies, and last night against the #2 ranked Panthers. DAL will come into this game looking to prove they can beat anyone. The Tigers are lead in scoring by Benjamin Breault and Brad McConnell with 14 and 12 points respectively.

The game can be viewed as a webcast on the SSN network and can be followed on UNBHockey on Twitter.

Last Night's Loss Ends Another Streak

Last night's loss to Acadia ended a winning streak against the Axemen that dated back to January 20th of 2007 when Reg Bourcier was the goalie of record.  Acadia went more than 3 full seasons, including 13 regular season games and 3 playoff games without beating UNB, so maybe this one was long overdue. Take a look at Acadia's roster on the AUS stats page here.  Looks like this was the first win vs. UNB for the entire team.

It's definitely game on in the AUS as the race looks to be the tightest it's been since the 2006-2007 season.

Axemen Hold Off V-Reds

The Acadia Axemen were 3-2 winners on home ice against the V-Reds Friday night.  UNB got goals from Bailey and MacNeil but couldn't score more than twice.  Travis Fullerton took the loss in net.  UNB will hold on to first place in the AUS for the time being with their 10-3 record.

There's no time for dwelling on this loss, as the team will look to rebound when they visit the Dalhousie Tigers tomorrow night in Halifax.

V-Reds vist Axemen tonight at 7pm

The AUS #1 ranked V-Reds (10-2-0) travel to Wolfville tonight to do battle at the Acadia Arena versus the AUS #6 ranked Axemen (5-5-2) at 7pm.

The V-Reds have won the last 16 contests between these two teams, including a 5-2 victory earlier this season. Most V-Reds fans will follow this game to see if Hunter Tremblay can rewrite the record books. Tremblay is now tied with Rob Hennigar for first place all-time in regular season points (177) and will look to continue the momentum he gained in the last outing against STU where he scored a hat trick in the 4-0 victory. The V-Reds are led in points by Hunter Tremblay and Chris Culligan with 20 and 18 points respectively.

The Axemen are on a three game losing streak, including a loss to Dalhousie last weekend 4-3 in overtime, and will look to reverse their fortunes on home ice. Acadia has the best power-play in the AUS, with a .262 percentage to the second place V-Reds' .214. The Axemen are led in points by Chris Bruton and Jonathan Laberge who each have 16 points.

The game is available as a webcast from the SSN website and can be followed on UNBHockey on Twitter.

Friesen Suits Up For AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers

Former V-Reds captain Dustin Friesen suited up for the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers last night and managed to make the scoresheet by recording 4 minutes in penalties.  Bridgeport lost the game 2-1 in overtime to the Providence Bruins.

Earlier yesterday Bridgeport signed Friesen to a Professional Tryout contract.

AUS Pool - Week 6 Standings

There's plenty of horses still in the race for bragging rights in the AUS Pool.  Jack Gillis and AUS Fan are tied for first place, and a dozen or so people are just a good weekend away from taking over.  This week's top performer was AUS Fan with an incredible 32 points.  Here's how the Top 10 look:

Pos Team Name             G    A   Gly  Pts  Chg  LWk
=== =================    ===  ===  ===  ===  ===  ===
 T1 jack gillis           46   73   21  140   25    1
 T1 AUS Fan               41   77    8  140   32    3
  3 Section 10            40   72   26  138   27    2
  4 blackmarketmob        43   70   14  137   30   T4
  5 UNB BRUINS FAN        41   69   24  134   27   T4
  6 David Kilfoil         38   70   24  132   25   T4
 T7 BruinsFan0877         41   68   19  128   25    9
 T7 Randy Corey           36   74   18  128   28  T12
  9 Matt J                40   65   10  127   21    7
T10 Jeremy Muise          44   60   22  126   27  T14
T10 Tim Martell           42   62   12  126   30  T19
T10 Hardy Fan             37   63   26  126   21    8

We're almost at the half-way point of the season and it's still wide open.  The complete results can be viewed by clicking the AUS Pool link on the right sidebar.  As always, if you think you see an error in the totals, send us an e-mail and we'll look into it.

Tremblay Earns Male Athlete of the Week Award

Three guesses as to who earned this week's UNB/Valley Graphics Male Athlete of the Week award - the hat trick against STU grabbed enough attention for Hunter Tremblay to receive that honour.  Incidentally, this is the second time this season Tremblay has received the award.

Speaking of Tremblay, pick up a copy of today's Daily Gleaner to read David Ritchie's article about the quiet and unassuming #7 and his value to the team.

Sixth CIS Top Ten Rankings of 2010-2011

With six weeks complete in the AUS, the CIS has released the sixth Top 10 Rankings of the year. UNB has moved up one spot to #2 as McGill suffered their first loss of the year. UPEI has jumped up to fifth nationally, while Saint Mary's has dropped down to eighth.

Here's how the rankings look in the sixth media poll.

(Regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (last week)

1. Alberta (10-1-1) / 169 pts (9) / (1)
2. UNB (10-2-0) / 157 (4) / (3)
3. McGill (13-0-1) / 148 (5) / (2)
4. Western Ontario (11-0-2) / 124 / (4)
5. UPEI (8-3-1) / 90 / (8)
6. Saskatchewan (7-5-0) / 80 / (7)
7. Saint Mary’s (6-4-1) / 62 / (6)
8. Manitoba (6-2-4) / 55 / (5)
9. Lakehead (9-4-1) / 38 / (NR)
10. Calgary (6-4-2) / 27 / (9)


Other teams receiving votes: UQTR (21), StFX (9), Walterloo (5), Carleton (3), Concordia (1), Guelph (1).

The complete story can be found here.

Fox on Boyce

The Daily Gleaner's Chris Fox gets a few words in with former V-Reds forward Darryl Boyce.  Boyce of course is playing for the Marlies in Toronto, still chasing his dream of making it back to the NHL after his first stint ended abruptly with a season ending injury.

Boyce is fairly honest in the article, and at one point says "I'm going to be made out of metal, staples and wire eventually," reflecting on the life of a pro-hockey player who has had his share of injuries.  Perhaps most importantly, he's still progressing towards his degree while working full-time in an extremely demanding profession.

More On Tremblay

David Ritchie's article in today's Daily Gleaner nicely summarizes how the afternoon went for Hunter Tremblay yesteday.  He even manages to get a few words out of Tremblay after the game.    Mr. Ritchie also points out that the Battle of the Hill has gone in favour of the good guys 24 straight times, we'll leave it to the historians out there to see how that streak holds up against other UNB streaks, and perhaps other CIS teams.

10th win keeps UNB in 1st place

The Varsity Reds might not have played a great 60 minutes, but they played well enough Sunday afternoon to blank the St. Thomas Tommies 4-0, thanks in no small part to the hat trick of Hunter Tremblay (Timmins, ON). While Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) got the shutout for UNB, at the other end of the ice STU netminder Charles Lavigne (St. Bernardin, ON) did his best to keep his team in the game, making 36 saves and putting on a show for the 2302 fans at the Aitken University Centre in the losing effort.

While the early play favoured the V-Reds, at 6:25 power forward Jeff Lee (Calgary, AB) had to leave the game with a leg injury, and didn't return from the locker room. 15 seconds later Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) rang a shot off the crossbar behind Lavigne, the first of four times that UNB would clang the iron in the game. At 8:11, after several saves, Lavigne was finally beat by Tremblay, who had been held pointless his last two games. Seven minutes later Tremblay got past STU captain Erick Tremblay on a two-on-one rush, but Lavigne anticipated the pass well and made a great save coming across on Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS). UNB kept the pressure on, with Nick Layton (Salisbury, NB) hitting the crossbar about a minute later, and then, in the last minute of the period, Lavigne made saves on both Tremblay and Clendenning in close. Shot in the first period were 16-4 for UNB.

The second period started off with a bang when Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) drilled a puck from the slot that hit Lavigne square in the face mask, but the STU netminder shook it off. However as the period rolled along the Tommies were playing a close-checking road game for the most part and the V-Reds started to get away from their normal high tempo attack, and at times were fortunate that the STU forwards weren't converting their opportunities. UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall used his timeout at 5:10 which he later acknowledged was to renew his team's focus and get them to stop "playing shinny". UNB was on the power play at 8:34 when STU's Scott Judson (Riverview, NB) was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB). UNB did not produce many scoring chances on the 1:23 of five-on-three play, nor for the remainder of the Judson penalty for that matter.

The excitement came in the last minute of the period. Two Tommies tried to stand up Bailey in the neutral zone and that created an opening for Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) to break in alone on Lavigne who was forced to make a big save. Seconds later MacNeil had the puck back and rang a shot off the post. UNB managed to get a line change in during this attack and it was Luke Lynes (Rochester Hills, MI) scoring what seemed like an inevitable goal at 19:38.

Just 25 seconds into the third period Lynes was charging the STU net again, but this time he was called for goaltender interference. After UNB killed off the penalty, coach MacDougall made some adjustments to his lines to change things up, including moving Tremblay to a new line with Lachlan MacIntosh (Perth Andover, NB) and Ryan Seymour (Fredericton, NB). It was an interesting combination, and paid off at 8:33 when Tremblay scored backhanded. The prettiest goal of the game came at 14:57 when Harty, who passed up a good scoring chance earlier in the period when he passed off the puck to Tremblay, this time was in the middle of some tic-tac-toe passing with Seymour that found Tremblay all alone at the open side of the net. Not only was it a hat-trick goal, but the third game point tied Tremblay with Rob Hennigar for UNB's career record, at 177 points. Interestingly, Tremblay's rookie year he played on Hennigar's line and helped him set the record that he has now tied, and will surely pass.

Less than a minute later UNB's Bailey got into a heated neutral ice skirmish with STU's Judson that drew a crowd of V-Reds players. Bailey was called for four minutes for head butting in the fracas, and STU would essentially finish the game on the power play. Well their power play was about as effective as UNB's, and worse, Lavigne was forced to make two big saves on penalty killing Culligan. Travis Fullerton earned his second shutout of the season in the 4-0 win, and he wasn't near as busy in nets as Lavigne as the V-Reds outshot the Tommies 40-14 in the game.

Despite the loss, STU head coach Mike Eagles felt that his team was improving and at least laying the foundation to win hockey games, whereas he didn't feel they competed hard enough in the first seven games of the season. While not making excuses, he offered that "I've never had so many man-games lost as we have had this term" due to all the player injuries and suspensions.

As for UNB, while Gardiner MacDougall wasn't happy with the V-Reds' power play (now goalless in three straight games), he was pleased for Hunter Tremblay's big night, as he said his passion for the game and caring for his teammates is unmatched in the locker room.

Game Stars: 1. Hunter Tremblay 2. Charles Lavigne 3. Nick MacNeil

Tremblay's Hat Trick Leads V-Reds to 4-0 Win vs. STU

Coming into this game, Hunter Tremblay was 3 points behind Rob Hennigar on the all-time UNB Regular Season scoring list.  With the three goals he scored in UNB's 4-0 victory this afternoon, the two share first place for the time being.  Luke Lynes scored the other UNB goal, while Travis Fullerton was there when called upon, earning his second shut-out of the season.  Final shots favoured UNB 39-12.

This one probably won't be remembered as the team's best effort of the year.  At times in the first two periods, UNB didn't seem to be in synch, and early in the second period Coach MacDougall even called a time-out to settle the team down.

Jeff Lee left the game early with some type of injury.  Let's hope it's nothing serious.

The win puts a bit of distance between UNB and UPEI.  The V-Reds have 20 points, while the surprising Panthers aren't far behind at 17.

Battle of the Hill #171

Tomorrow at 2pm STU (1-7-2) comes into the AUC looking to avenge the 7-1 loss they suffered back on October 16th. STU has lost 23 games in a row to the V-Reds (9-2-0); and will be looking to stop that streak and start one of their own.

STU comes into this game on a six game losing streak, and is sitting last in the AUS. STU are led in scoring by Alex Labonte and Yuri Cheremetiev with 9 and 8 points respectively. UNB now holds a one point lead over UPEI who won 6-3 over UdeM tonight. The V-Reds will be looking to increase that lead to 3 points and to continue their momentum towards Nationals. The V-Reds are led in scoring by Hunter Tremblay and Chris Culligan with 17 points each.

The Tremblay watch will continue as he sits only three points back of Rob Hennigar for the all time regular points (177) record. To look at their compared stats you can click here.

Tomorrow's game will be available on CHSR radio, and followed on UNBHockey on Twitter.

V-Reds Win 3-1 vs. Moncton

A balanced attack helped the V-Reds to a 3-1 win at the Aitken Centre against the visiting Aigles Bleus de UdeM. Luke Lynes opened the scoring, and Lachlan MacIntosh  scored the winner.  Rookie Nick MacNeil added a late goal for the V-Reds.  Chris Culligan and Hunter Tremblay were both held off the scoresheet.  Derek Yeomans had a good game in goal stopping 22 of 23 shots fired at the UNB.  Final shots were 38-23.

The win leaves UNB in first place in the AUS with 18 points, 3 points up on UPEI, and 5 points ahead of STFX who managed to beat SMU by a 5-4 score.

Ouzas To The AHL and Other Tidbits

Former V-Reds goalie Mike Ouzas has been loaned to the Houston Aeros of the AHL.  Ouzas had been playing for the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL. 

Bruce Hallihan has a nice piece in today's Daily Gleaner on one of the unsung heroes of the Varsity Reds, Josh Hepditch.  Hepditch might always be remembered best for changing the momentum in the gold medal game against Moncton a few years back with a calculated launch into the UdeM bench.

Remember, there's just a couple of days left to vote for your All-Decade team for the 1960's.  Vote often! 

Finally, we were sad to learn of the passing of former UNB Red Devils captain, Dr. Arnold McAllister.  The funeral service will take place Saturday.  The Daily Gleaner provides more information.

AUS Pool Week 5 Standings

Week 5 results of the AUS Pool are up.  There's no change in the leaders but there's lots competitors positioned to make a run for the top.  Jack Gillis continues to dominate the standings with 115 points, but 12 others have hit the century mark for points already.

This week's top performer was blackmarketmob who put up an impressive 28 pts, enough to make the jump from #11 to #4.

Here's this week's top 10:

Pos Team Name             G    A   Gly  Pts  Chg  LWk
=== =================    ===  ===  ===  ===  ===  ===
  1 jack gillis           41   58   16  115   27    1
  2 Section 10            35   58   18  111   24    2
  3 AUS Fan               35   59    6  108   23    5
 T4 blackmarketmob        35   54   10  107   28  T11
 T4 UNB BRUINS FAN        35   54   18  107   23   T6
 T4 David Kilfoil         33   56   18  107   21   T3
  7 Matt J                35   53    9  106   20   T3
  8 Hardy Fan             31   56   18  105   25   10
  9 BruinsFan0877         35   56   12  103   19   T6
 10 Robert Penney         32   52   18  102   20    9

The complete list can be found by clicking the link on the sidebar.  If you think there's a mistake in any of the totals, send us an email and we'll look into it for you.

Fifth CIS Top Ten Rankings of 2010-2011

With five weeks complete in the AUS, the CIS has released the fifth Top 10 Rankings of the year. The top three teams remain the same, but UNB lost some first place votes with their 3-1 loss to SMU on the weekend. SMU and UPEI remain in sixth and eighth respectively.

Here's how the rankings look in the fourth media poll.

(Regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (last week)

1. Alberta (9-1-0) / 171 pts (9) / (1)
2. McGill (12-0-0) / 159 (7) / (2)
3. UNB (8-2-0) / 145 (2) / (3)
4. Western Ontario (10-0-1) / 132 / (4)
5. Manitoba (6-2-2) / 91 / (5)
6. Saint Mary’s (5-3-0) / 87 / (6)
7. Saskatchewan (6-4-0) / 60 / (7)
8. UPEI (6-3-1) / 56 / (8)
9. Calgary (6-4-2) / 31 / (10)
10. Concordia (9-3-0) / 29 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: Lakehead (14), Acadia (4), StFX (3), Carleton (3), Ottawa (2), Wilfrid Laurier (2), Waterloo (1).

The full top ten story can be found here.

Special Teams and a Little Luck the Difference in Huskies Win 3-1 loss ends V-Reds win streak at 8 games

HALIFAX - The Saint Mary's Huskies took advantage of their special teams, and a little luck, to defeat the visiting UNB Varsity Reds 3-1 Saturday night at the Halifax Forum. The loss halts UNB's win streak at eight games, and more importantly for SMU, allows the Huskies to sweep their weekend games after losing twice last weekend, including a 5-2 loss to the V-Reds.

Like the game the night before against StFX, UNB came out with a physcal intensity to start the match. However early on V-Red Matt Fillier (Durham, NS) was assessed a double-minor for roughing in a skirmish in the Huskies corner with Michael Stickland (Red Deer, AB), who received a single minor. While killing the penalty, UNB defenceman Josh Hepditch (Fredericton, NB) was called for slashing while trying to stop a rushing Andrew Hotham (Barrie ON), and the Huskies had a two-man power play for 56 seconds and they took advantage when Chris MacKinnon (Richmond Hill, ON) scored from the circle at 4:44. Less than two minutes later MacKinnon took a slashing penalty, but UNB didn't score on the power play. Fillier took his second penalty of the period at 9:14, when he got called for boarding for a heavy hit on Ryan Gottschalk (Markham, ON). Less than a minute after a good penalty kill, the V-Reds had some bad luck. UNB goaltender Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB) went behind the net to play the puck on a dump-in, but the puck caromed out of the corner right to the front of the net, and Brad Smith (Summerside, PE) had an empty net for an easy tap-in goal at 12:01. It was the first goal of the season for Smith, and his first since he scored the overtime winner for the Huskies at the 2010 University Cup back in March. Two minutes later UNB rookie Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS), shorthanded, forced Huskies goalie Neil Conway (Painesville, OH) to make perhaps the save of the period. The V-Reds finally scored late in the period, at 19:13, when Lachlan MacIntosh entered the Huskies zone on the left side while his two linemates went to the net. MacIntosh continued on behind the net and out the right side and almost to the top of the right circle before letting loose a quick wrister that beat Conway.

There was no scoring in the second period, but the UNB bench was not happy when defenceman Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) was assessed a checking from behind minor (and automatic 10-minute misconduct) by referee Mark Hulshoff at 8:43 on a pretty innocuous looking shove well away from the boards. As a result Wright couldn't return to the ice until the third period. UNB did have a power play four minutes later and generated a number of shots, but couldn't put the puck past Conway. UNB took yet another penalty late in the period that carried over to the third period.

Once UNB got through the penalty kill to start the third period, they got back to work trying to score on Conway. However Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) was called for cross-checking for 4:08, and defenceman Bretton Stamler (Edmonton, AB) was assessed a hooking call while on the penalty kill, and the Huskies had another five-on-three, this time for 1:02. UNB killed off the penalty successfully, and eventually had their own power play at 13:39 when Kyle Wharton (Stittsville, ON) was called for tripping. However, just over a minute in the power play Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) was called for tripping and the man advantage disappeared. With just over three minutes to go in the game, Conway stopped a Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) shot, and Josh Hepditch jumped on the rebound and forced Conway to make a huge save. Worse news for UNB was that the referee decreed after the save that V-Reds had too many men on the ice while making the line change on the play, and they would be shorthanded yet again. After killing off the penalty, UNB pulled Fullerton with about 40 seconds to go, but they lost control of the puck in the neutral zone and Shawn O'Donnell (Halifax, NS) flipped the puck into the empty net at 19:43.

The 3-1 victory was the first for the reigning CIS Champion Huskies over the V-Reds since March 18, 2009, when SMU won the deciding game of the best-of-three AUS championship series. Interestingly in that year UNB went on to win the University Cup as the wildcard entry in Thunder Bay. Shots in Friday's game were 25-21 in favour of SMU, but the shot counters appeared stingy in light of the offensive bent of the game. SMU was 1-for-10 on the power play while UNB was unsuccessful on their five power play opportunities.

Next weekend UNB is home to the UdeM Aigles Bleus on Friday night, and then cross-campus rival St. Thomas in a rare Sunday afternoon game. Saint Mary's is at home to Acadia on Wednesday, are at StFX on Friday, and back home Saturday when they host Dalhousie.

V-Reds Lose At SMU by 3-1 Score

An early 5-on-3 power play goal was the difference in very close game that saw the SMU Huskies get past the Varsity Reds by a 3-1 score.  It was a one goal game until the last few seconds when SMU scored an empty-netter.  Lachlan MacIntosh scored the lone UNB goal.  Travis Fullerton took the loss in net.

Penalties will be the game story for this one, and UNB's power play unit couldn't capitalize on its chances.  The loss leaves UNB with an 8-2 record and still in first place in the AUS.

UNB 6 - STFX 1

ANTIGONISH - The University of New Brunswick men's hockey team made it two wins in six days against their playoff nemesis StFX, with a decisive 6-1 win on the road Friday night in Antigonish. Led by Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) with two goals and two assists, linemate Hunter Tremblay (Timmins, ON) with a goal and two assists, and defenceman Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) with three assists, the Varsity Reds had the edge in the physical play, dominated the puck battles and outshot the X-Men 35-23 (although the game clock had the shot tally at 46-29) before 1300 fans at the Keating Millenium Centre Arena.

Like Saturday night in Fredericton, this game was intense from the opening faceoff, and both teams made sure they finished all of their checks and took every opportunity to take the body. After trading early penalties it was UNB opening the scoring when Wright let loose a quick wrist shot just inside the blue line through the crowd in front of the net, and Lachlan MacIntosh (Perth Andover, NB) deflected it past X-Men goaltender Bryan Gillis (Lantz, NS) at 11:08. The Varsity Reds extended their lead at 13:00, shorthanded, when Tremblay and Culligan were two-on-one in the X zone. After Gillis initially stopped Tremblay, the puck eventually came back to Culligan who beat Gillis on the other side of the net with his backhand. Late in the period StFX captain Chris Hulit (Sault Ste Marie, ON) was called for cross-checking and Culligan was all alone at the side of the net to bang in the rebound from a heavy Wright point shot for the power play goal at 18:43.

There was no scoring in the second period, and one reason was the scintillating save Travis Fullerton made just over eight minutes in on Hulit and Bryce Swan (Alder Point, NS) on a two-on-one rush. Once again StFX took a penalty late in the period, this time Matthew Bragg (Newmans Cove, NF) with an elbow to Dion Campbell (Melville, SK)'s head. As a result UNB reaped their reward early in the the third period on the power play, as Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) almost skated in too far for the back door play pass from Tremblay, but recovered in time to recover the puck and put it in the far side of the net at the 33 second mark. Less than three minutes later UNB made it 5-0 when Bretton Stamler (Edmonton, AB) headmanned the puck to Tremblay in the neutral zone who then accelerated, split the X-Men defence, went in alone on Gillis and beat him glove side with a quick wrist shot. StFX finally spoiled Fullerton's shutout bid at 15:39, when Swan scored backhanded on the power play. UNB got that goal back at 17:42, also on the power play, when Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) was unmolested in the slot to make it a 6-1 final for UNB.

Immediately after the game UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall was pretty satisfied with the play of his team. "We had a good complete team effort tonight. All four lines, all six defencemen and goaltender Fullerton played well. We needed a strong penalty kill tonight and got it. The team had a lot of energy and there was some great hits."

UNB was 3-for-7 on the power play while StFX was 1-for-6 with the man advantage. The three game stars were: 1. Chris Culligan 2. Hunter Tremblay 3. Bryan Gillis. Culligan had a combined five goals in two games against StFX. Saturday night UNB will be in Halifax to play the CIS champion Saint Mary's Huskies.

V-Reds Dump STFX By 6-1 Score

A quick three-goal outburst in the first period powered the visiting Varsity Reds to a 6-1 victory at Antigonish against the STFX X-Men.  Scoring for UNB were Lachlan MacIntosh, Chris Culligan with two (including one short handed), Jonathan Harty, Hunter Tremblay, and Jordan Clendenning.  Shots favored the good guys by a 46-29 margin.  Travis Fullerton continued his exceptional play this season by stopping 28 of 29 shots fired against him.

The UNB win combined with a UPEI overtime loss vs SMU further separates the V-Reds from the pack in the AUS standings.  UNB now has 16 points, while second place UPEI sits five points back with 11 points.

Here's the game story courtesy of The Daily Gleaner.

V-Reds visit X-Men tonight!

The CIS #3 V-Reds travel to Antigonish tonight to do battle with the X-Men at 7pm at the Keating Millenium Centre. The one previous contest between these two teams this regular season saw the V-Reds skate to a convincing 6-2 victory here last weekend.

The V-Reds are on a 1-4-0 in their last five games against the X-Men, and will not take them lightly on thier own home ice. The V-Reds are led offensively by Hunter Tremblay and Chris Culligan with 14 and 13 points respectively.

The X-Men are in a freefall. They recently dropped out of the CIS top ten rankings and have lost thier last four games and will be looking to turn things around against the AUS leading V-Reds. The X-Men are led offensively by Chris Hulit and Jason Bast with 13 and 9 points respectively.

The game is availabe as a webcast from the SSN website, can be heard on CHSR, and can be followed on UNBHockey on Twitter.

AUS Pool Week 4 Standings

There's still lots of movement in the AUS pool, and at the end of Week 4 Jack Gillis holds the lead with a total of 88 points.  You will notice that UNB and SMU players are all missing the totals from last Friday's UNB vs. SMU game.  Because we use the official AUS website as our scoring authority, and because the official stats don't yet include the totals from that game, we haven't added them.  This will be resolved in future weeks when the AUS corrects the stats.  But for those of you who can't wait,  you can visit the CIS website to find the total points for your players.

This week's top performer was Section 10 with a massive 26 point outburst. Was it skill, or fluke?  Time will tell.  We've just passed the quarter-mark of the AUS regular season so there's still lots of hockey left.  Look at some of the big jumps folks like Section 10 and Hardy Fan have made in just one week!

Here are this week's top 10 standings:

Pos Team Name             G    A   Gly  Pts  Chg  LWk
=== =================    ===  ===  ===  ===  ===  ===
  1 jack gillis           35   41   12   88   17    1
  2 Section 10            29   44   14   87   26  T12
 T3 Matt J                30   42   14   86   19    2
 T3 David Kilfoil         28   44   14   86   20   T3
  5 AUS Fan               30   45    4   85   19   T3
 T6 BruinsFan0877         30   46    8   84   18   T3
 T6 UNB BRUINS FAN        30   40   14   84   20    8
 T6 Randy Corey           29   45   10   84   19    7
  9 Robert Penney         25   43   14   82   16   T3
 10 Hardy Fan             20   46   14   80   23  T21

As always, if you see any errors, send us an e-mail and we look into it for you.

Fourth CIS Top Ten Rankings of 2010-2011

With four weeks complete in the AUS, the CIS has released the fourth Top 10 Rankings of the year. The top three teams remain the same, but the Redmen and the V-Reds each have seven votes for first, while The Golden Bears only got four. Saint Mary's remains in the top ten, dropping to sixth, while StFX has dropped to 11th, and UPEI surging up to eighth.

Here's how the rankings look in the fourth media poll.

(Regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (last week)

1. Alberta (7-1-0) / 163 (4) / (1)
2. McGill (10-0-0) / 161 (7) / (2)
3. UNB (7-1-0) / 159 (7) / (3)
4. Western Ontario (8-0-1) / 126 / (5)
5. Manitoba (5-2-1) / 95 / (8)
6. Saint Mary's (3-3-0) / 50 / (4)
7. Saskatchewan (4-4-0) / 45 / (7)
8. UPEI (5-3-0) / 43 / (NR)
9. Carleton (7-1-2) / 42 / (10)
10. Calgary (5-4-1) / 37 / (9)

Other teams receiving votes: StFX (34), Concordia (23), Guelph (5), Acadia (4), UQTR (2), Lakehead (1).

The full top ten story can be found here.

Culligan Earns Male Athlete of the Week

Chris Culligan's big weekend scoring a hat trick vs STFX and adding two assists vs SMU was more than enough to give him the nod for this week's UNB/Valley Graphics Male Athlete of the Week award.  By our count, the second-year centre from Howie Centre, NS now has 13 pts in 7 games and is starting to heat up. 

UNB Gets Some Redemption in Decisive Victory

FREDERICTON   The most anticipated game of the season was worth waiting for, as the UNB Varsity Reds men's hockey team defeated the StFX X-Men 6-2 in a game that all had the intensity of a playoff match, and perhaps more. Led by a natural hat trick from Chris Culligan, and encouraged on by 2813 fans at the Aitken University Centre, the V-Reds overcame an early deficit to take the first step in redemption for last season's playoff elimination by the X-Men.

StFX of course was the only team to defeat UNB last season, halting the V-Reds winning streak at 26 games. A few weeks later they then went on to upset UNB in the second round of the AUS playoffs, in three straight 3-2 victories. The X-Men started this season with four wins, which only heightened the anticipation for their first visit to Fredericton. That anticipation probably turned to worry soon after the drop of the puck, as the X-Men took it to UNB early on, helped by the fact that Hunter Tremblay (Timmins, ON) was called for elbowing just 23 seconds into the game. The X-Men were first on the scoreboard, at 4:01, when Matthew Bragg (Newmans Cove, NL) scored off a rebound on the rush as he beat Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB). X was outshooting UNB 7-4 at that time.

The momentum didn't shift the V-Reds' way until they started killing off a slashing penalty to Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PEI) at 10:37, after Corcorcan responded to being checked into the X-Men bench. Less than a minute later UNB captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) and rookie Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) roared up ice on a shorthanded two-on-one rush. In the X zone the desperate X-Man defender slid full body across the ice to take Bailey down, but not before he got the puck across to MacNeil who tipped the puck past Joey Perricone (San Juan Capistrano, CA) to tie the game and bring the relieved fans to their feet. UNB still had to kill off the penalty, and almost got another shorthanded goal just before the penalty expired, when Perricone made a right pad save on Tremblay off a breakaway. Seconds later Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) and defenceman Bretton Stamler (Edmonton, AB) collaborated on a goal to put UNB in the lead, with the puck apparently going off the goalie's stick or skate just before it got to Stamler at the open side of the net. The physical intensity escalated at the game played on, and at the end of the period there was all sorts of chirping and a bit of a scrum as the teams left their benches, highlighted by X's Bryce Swan (Alder Point, NS) coming back across the ice to "chat" with some of the UNB players heading off. Referee Thayer Doyle then assessed StFX a bench minor for leaving the bench early. Shots in the first period were 14-13 in favour of UNB.

So the second period started with a fresh sheet of ice and UNB on the power play. It only took the V-Reds 34 seconds to take advantage of the opportunity of the man advantage, when defenceman Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) hammered a point shot off the rear boards so that it would rebound into the dog pile in front of the StFX net, and Culligan got a couple of whacks at the puck before getting it past Perricone. For X-Men coach Brad Peddle, this was the turning point in the game, as it put UNB up 3-1 "and we found it tough to respond after that goal. We had to start taking risks, and got burned." It was 13:01 when Culligan completed his natural hat trick, as he tipped in Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB)'s point shot. Soon after UNB was on the power play, and Bailey in front of the X-Men net sustained a tremendous battering from behind by defenceman Nick Pageau (Stoney Creek, ON) before Pageau was finally called for roughing. Although the V-Reds didn't score on their 38 second five-on-three advantage, it was Bailey who turned on a loose puck in front of the net for the power play goal at 15:27. Just over a minute later, and after the whistle and blown play dead, UNB's Josh Hepditch (Fredericton, NB) was knocked down at centre ice by Derek Claffey (Red Deer, AB) and that precipitated another scrum. X's Stephen Simms (Reidville, NF) and UNB's Harty got roughing minors, and both Claffey and Harty were given addition 10-minute misconducts. Since it was Harty's second misconduct of the game, he was automatically given a game misconduct. The V-Reds had already lost defenceman Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) on his first shift of the game when he went down blocking a shot, so UNB would finish the remainder of the game with four d-men. While there were no more penalties called in the period, both teams came close as the tension built. UNB outshot X 15-6 in the middle period.

During the intermission both coaches must have told their respective teams to dial back the animosity, as play that looked to be getting out of hand was certainly calmer in the third period. UNB dominated the start of the period, and StFX never got out of their zone before Luke Lynes (Rochester Hills, MI) on the cycle snapped in a rebound at 2:20 to make it 6-1 for the home team. StFX had two power play opportunities midway through the period, but didn't score again until their man advantage for the final two minutes of the game, when rookie Scott Brannon (Stellarton, NS) scored at 18:49. Despite their power plays, StFX was still outshot by UNB 15-11 in the period, and 44-30 in the game.

For captain Kyle Bailey, "while we didn't get off to out expected start," he thought UNB's work ethic came through, and the turning point was MacNeil's shorthanded goal. Bailey stated that he loves these emotional games against tough opponents, and wished "every weekend could be like this". Well he's going to get his wish, as Friday UNB will be in Antigonish to play StFX again, and then Saturday night they will be in Halifax to renew acquaintances with Saint Mary's.

Game Notes: UNB was 2-for-4 on the power play while StFX was 1-for-7 with the man advantage. The three stars of the game were: 1. Chris Culligan 2. Kyle Bailey 3. Ben Wright. Bailey led all centres going 15-5 on the face-off dot while X's Phil Mangan was next best at 12-6. While UNB defenceman Ben Wright returned to the lineup, fellow d-man Ben Shutron (Orleans, ON) is still out long-term, along with forwards Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) and Taylor Procyshen (Emerald Park, SK). Dion Campbell (Melville, SK), off to a terrific start this season, missed both weekend games with an illness, and will see a doctor Monday. StFX centre Brett Robertson has not played this season, and is not expected back with a long term injury. The Varsity Reds sported a new patch on the right sleeve of their jerseys this weekend - it says simply "Ted" in honour of the late Ted Bedard, a WWII veteran, star player for UNB from 1946-51, and longtime active supporter of the hockey program who recently passed away. Saturday's 6-2 win is UNB's seventh in a row, and keeps them in first place in the standings, four points ahead of UPEI.

Reds Keep Rolling With Win Over X-Men

The Varsity Reds cruised to their seventh straight win with a 6-2 pounding of the STFX X-Men at the Aitken Centre on Saturday night.  Led by a 3 goal performance from sophomore Chris Culligan, the Varsity Reds offence was too much for STFX goalie Joseph Perricone on this night.  Luke Lynes and Nick MacNeil helped out with a goal each while Kyle Bailey rounded out the UNB goal scoring.  Honourable mention has to go to Ben Wright who has been very good so far in his first two games of the season.  Travis Fullerton made 27 saves for the win.

The win moves UNB 4 points up on the surprising UPEI Panthers, who were winners over SMU this evening.  UNB sits on top of the AUS with 14 points.

V-Reds look for some REDemption tonight!

The CIS #3 ranked V-Reds host the CIS #6 ranked X-Men at 7pm tonight at the AUC. Tonight's game will hold a lot of significance for the players, coaches, and fans. This is the first meeting between these two teams since the X-Men came into the AUC on Feb. 12th last year and gave UNB their first regular season loss (4-3), after 26 straight wins, ending UNBs quest to have an undefeated season.

A few weeks later, they ended UNB's bid to return to the Nationals and defend their title with a stunning three straight game upset, including a 3-2 victory over the V-Reds that all the fans will remember which saw the V-Reds out shoot the X-Men 31-6.

The X-Men are coming off of a 7-3 loss last night at the hands of the UPEI Panthers, and are currently on a three game losing streak that they will be looking to turn around. The X-Men are led in points by Chris Hulit and Bryce Swan with 13 and 8 points respectively.

The V-Reds, on a current six game winning streak, are sitting atop the AUS conference and will look to extend their three point lead over the X-Men tonight. The top line of Hunter Tremblay, Chris Culligan, and Jordan Clendenning have been looking like a well oiled machine of late, combining for 29 points thus far this season, and will look to continue their dominance of opposing lines.

The game is available as a webcast from the SSN website, and can be followed on UNBHockey on Twitter.

UNB Wins Sixth In A Row

Unlike their exhibition game back on September 25, which was an embarrassing 10-3 loss for Saint Mary's, Friday night's hockey game between the Huskies and the V-Reds was a close physical affair for two periods, before UNB pulled away in the third period for the 5-2 win. The V-Reds were led by player of the game Hunter Tremblay with a goal and an assist, while linemates Jordan Clendenning and Chris Culligan each had two assists.

It was a humid night at the AUC, and the glass had to be cleaned with squeegees multiple times before the ceremonial faceoff by the Lieutenant-Governor, the Honourable Graydon Nicholas, along with Commonwealth Games bronze medalist wrestlers Eric Feunekes (4th year UNB Engineering student) and Promise Mwenga (UNB BBA grad). It was a chippy game to start, and just five seconds into UNB's third power play Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) won the faceoff and Hunter Tremblay (Timmins, ON) got the puck back to Jonathan Harty (Oromocto, NB) on the point, who ripped the shot past SMU goalie Neil Conway (Painesville, OH) at 11:29. SMU responded at 16:37, shorthanded, when Harty was caught flatfooted on the point and the Huskies went on a 3-on-2 the other way with Huskies defenceman Kyle Wharton (Stittsville, ON) on the rush snapping the puck over Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB)'s left shoulder, and just under the crossbar. Shots favoured UNB 13-5 in the first period.

UNB extended their lead to two goals at 3:18 of the second period, when defenceman Ben Wright (Foremost, AB), playing his first conference game for UNB after coming back from a knee injury, jumped into the play and took a nice cross ice feed from Chris Culligan (Howie Center, NS) right on the doorstep for the easy tap in. However, UNB's Matt Fillier (Durham, NS) got called for high sticking seconds later and SMU's power play went to work. Defenceman Andrew Hotham (Barrie, ON) pinched into the circle and one-timed a nice feed from the cycling Cam Fergus (Brantford, ON) to score at 4:20 to tie the game up again. It is the first power play goal UNB has given up in three games. UNB got their lead back at 12:29, on the power play, when Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS) blasted a high point shot that initially Tremblay looked to have tipped past Conway.  UNB took a penalty short after, and had mostly killed it off when under pressure from Tremblay the SMU goalie tripped behind the net while trying to play the puck and Tremblay was called for interference to a chorus of boos from the UNB fans. This gave a brief 5-on-3 power play to the Huskies, but UNB survived that and the Tremblay penalty in a key penalty kill. Shots were 13-6 for SMU in second period.

Seconds into the third period Tremblay was stoned by Conway close in, after a crisp pass by Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB). The two connected successfully five minutes later, when Tremblay cruised into the slot and took another nice pass from Clendenning to make it 4-2. The game was delayed for several minutes after the goal, as over-exhuberant fans shook the glass behind the Saint Mary's bench, causing one panel to shatter, necessitating a hasty clean-up.  Tthe prettiest goal of the night came at 15:30 when Lachlan MacIntosh (Perth Andover, NB) and Nick Layton (Salisbury, NB) had a two-on-rush and MacIntosh deked out Conway to finally score his first goal of the season.

UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall liked how his team responded after the second period. ?The leaders in the room had to exhibit a better effort in the third period, and they did from the opening shift. We needed to simplify our game against a tough opponent, and we accomplished that.? While UNB got Ben Wright back for the game they were missing Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) who was sick. Defenceman Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PEI) moved up to play wing on UNB's fourth line to make a spot for Wright, and Lachlan MacIntosh took Campbell's spot with Jeff Lee (Calgary, AB). UNB's second line saw Kyle Bailey centring Nick MacNeil (Creignish, NS) and Nick Layton to complete the line juggling.

The three stars of the game were 1. Hunter Tremblay 2. Jordan Clendenning 3. Bretton Stamler. Attendence was 2238. UNB was 2-for-8 on the power play while SMU was 1-for-5 with the man advantage, plus the shorthanded goal. Travis Fullerton made 23 saves in the game for the win, with 12 in the second period. Neil Conway faced 31 shots from UNB in the loss.

V-Reds Thump Huskies 5-2 To Remain Unbeaten At Home

Over 2200 fans were treated to a pretty good game of hockey this Friday night when the reigning National Champion SMU Huskies visited the UNB Varsity Reds at the Aitken Centre.  Lead by goals from Hunter Tremblay, Jonathan Harty, and Lachlan MacIntosh, the V-Reds skated to a 5-2 victory.  Travis Fullerton was great when called upon, stopping 21 of 23 shots for the win. 

Jordan Clendenning had a strong game with a pair of assists.  He and Huskies forward Mike Danton seemed to develop a bit of a mini-rivalry during the pre-game skate that carried over to the game.  The evening also featured the return of defenceman Ben Wright to the UNB lineup.  Dion Campbell was out sick, so Spencer Corcoran actually played some shifts as a forward, throwing his weight around. 

The UNB victory, combined with STFX's 7-3 loss to UPEI leaves the V-Reds 3 pts up on STFX for first place in the AUS.  The X-Men visit UNB tomorrow night at 7 PM.

V-Reds host Huskies tonight at 7pm at the AUC

Tonight, the CIS #3 ranked V-Reds take on the CIS #4 ranked Huskies for the first time this regular season.

Although some may look back at the 10-3 thrashing that the V-Reds gave the Huskies back in the preseason, the Huskies have quietly been building their momentum, going 3-1-0 in their first four games, and only allowing 8 goals in that span behind the goaltending of Neil Conway. The Huskies can boast the best power play in the AUS thus far this season (.250), best goals per game (5.00), along with the best save percentage (.932). The Huskies are led in points by Andrew Hotham and Cam Fergus with eight and seven points respectively.

The V-Reds, currently on a five game winning streak, look to continue their winning ways and to continue building momentum towards Nationals in March. The V-Reds lead the AUS in goals allowed per game (1.50), penalty-killing (.935), and goals scored (27). The V-Reds are led in points by linemates Hunter Tremblay and Chris Culligan with 11 and 9 points respectively.

The game is available on webcast from the SSN website, and can be followed on UNBHockey on Twitter.

Vote Now for the UNB Hockey "All Star Team of the Decade" for the 1960's

UNB hockey fans, starting now you get to help pick the UNB hockey All-Star Team of the Decade for the 1960's. This is the first of six different eras we will be honouring over the next two years in conjunction with UNB's hosting of the Cavendish University Cup. You get to vote for six players from 24 names nominated by the Legacy committee. After the first round of voting, we will reduce the nominees to the top twelve vote getters, and voting will start again until we are down to the final six players.

Everyone is entitled to vote up to three times each week, and will be completed on November 28. Each time you vote you pick three forwards, two defencemen and one goalie from 24 UNB players who starred in the 1960's. You simply have to provide an e-mail address as your login to join the voting, and create your own password. You don't even have to vote for the same six players each time you vote.

So vote early and vote often by clicking here!


Edit:  More on the voting courtesy of Friday's edition of The Daily Gleaner.

AUS Pool - Week 3 Standings

Week 3 of the AUS pool is in the books.  Jack Gillis takes the lead at the top of the standings with an impressive 71 pts powered by the likes of Cory Vitarelli and Andrew Hotham.  Last year's powerhouses "Barney" and "Fan of the Vreds" are middle of the pack and poised to make a move.  There's just a bad weekend separating first from last place though, and lots of hockey left early in this season.  Here's how the standings look.  We'll get the pool page updated asap. 


Rank Name Goals - Assists - Gly Pts - Total

1 jack gillis 27 - 32 - 12 - 71
2 Matt J 26 - 29 - 12 - 67
3 BruinsFan0877 26 - 32 - 8 - 66
4 Robert Penney 19 - 35 - 12 - 66
5 AUS Fan 26 - 32 - 8 - 66
6 David Kilfoil 25 - 29 - 12 - 66
7 Randy Corey 26 - 33 - 6 - 65
8 true north fan 26 - 30 - 8 - 64
9 UNB BRUINS FAN 22 - 30 - 12 - 64
10 Jeremy Muise 28 - 27 - 8 - 63
11 Adam Antium 23 - 27 - 12 - 62
12 FORREST 19 - 31 - 12 - 62
13 AUSFAN72 18 - 31 - 12 - 61
14 Section 10 21 - 28 - 12 - 61
15 Todd's Shoulder 21 - 27 - 12 - 60
16 Davidlep 20 - 28 - 12 - 60
17 blackmarketmob 23 - 25 - 12 - 60
18 Red Devil 19 - 28 - 12 - 59
19 CMD 19 - 28 - 12 - 59
20 Ken C 24 - 22 - 12 - 58
21 Tim Martell 21 - 29 - 8 - 58
22 Hardy Fan 14 - 31 - 12 - 57
23 iceman 19 - 29 - 9 - 57
24 UNBforever 17 - 28 - 12 - 57
25 Hockey_Princess24 14 - 31 - 12 - 57
26 Lee-Anne 18 - 27 - 12 - 57
27 KevinCormier 14 - 31 - 12 - 57
28 Steve Noddin 17 - 31 - 8 - 56
29 vredsfan 24 - 23 - 8 - 55
30 Stephanie 18 - 24 - 12 - 54
31 slapshot 19 - 23 - 12 - 54
32 Adam Lanto 17 - 29 - 8 - 54
33 Phatrat 16 - 30 - 8 - 54
34 UNBelievable Fan 16 - 26 - 12 - 54
35 Fan Of the Vreds 21 - 20 - 12 - 53
36 Drummer 17 - 26 - 10 - 53
37 Big Bad Jon 14 - 29 - 9 - 52
38 Barney 17 - 23 - 12 - 52
39 Dylan.M 16 - 27 - 8 - 51
40 UNBNurse 14 - 27 - 10 - 51
41 Eagles A Plenty 15 - 22 - 12 - 49
42 Brandon 18 - 24 - 6 - 48
43 UNBFAN34 13 - 23 - 12 - 48
44 Alta 3rd liner 17 - 20 - 9 - 46
45 Wolfville Warrior 13 - 24 - 4 - 41
46 TommiesVideo 15 - 24 - 2 - 41

As always, check your totals.  If you feel we made a mistake, we probably have, so kindly let us know by sending us an email.

Big Weekend Ahead For V-Reds

In Thursday's edition of The Daily Gleaner, Bruce Hallihan gets a few words with captain Kyle Bailey about the upcoming weekend and even a few thoughts on last season's disappointing playoff performance.  As AUS regular season weekends go, this is about as good as you could expect on home ice - the reigning national champions, and the team that ended your season are both visiting in back-to-back nights, so make sure you get your tickets and come out to the games.  It just so happens both teams are immediately behind UNB in the standings in what's shaping up to be a typical tight race in the AUS. 

Third CIS Top Ten Rankings of 2010-2011

With three weeks complete in the AUS, the CIS has released the third Top 10 Rankings of the year. The top three teams remain the same, each receiving 6 first place votes. This is not likely to change as long as they all keep up their winning ways. The three AUS teams in the top ten will do battle this weekend as the V-Reds host SMU Friday night and StFX on Saturday night at the AUC.

Here's how the rankings look in the third media poll.

(Regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (last week)

1. Alberta (7-1-0) / 165 (6) / (1)
2. McGill (8-0-0) / 161 (6) / (2)
3. UNB (5-1-0) / 155 (6) / (3)
4. Saint Mary's (3-1-0) / 117 / (5)
5. Western Ontario (6-0-1) / 113 / (6)
6. StFX (4-1-1) / 96 / (4)
7. Saskatchewan (3-3-0) / 49 / (7)
8. Manitoba 3-2-1) / 35 / (8)
9. Calgary (4-3-1) / 32 / (10)
10. Carleton (5-1-2) / 27 / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: UQTR (13), Wilfrid Laurier (11), Concordia (7). Lakehead (5), Acadia (4).

The full top ten story can be found here.

Stamler Named UNB Male Athlete of the Week, Tremblay Interview

Third year defenceman Bretton Stamler has been named the UNB/Valley Graphics Male Athlete of the Week following his solid performance this past weekend.  In addition to being a workhorse defensively, he chipped in with a shorthanded goal and an assist.  Well done, Bretton.

Also, Bill Hunt interviews Hunter Tremblay in today's edition of The Daily Gleaner.  Among things discussed are Tremblay's decision to come to UNB, and his pursuit of the scoring records.