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.
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