FREDERICTON -- The game Friday night between the UNB Varsity Reds and
the UdeM Aigles Bleus went two periods without a goal, but everything
came together for the large, restless, partizan crowd in the dramatic
third period when Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) finally solved P.-A.
Marion (Gatineau, QC) to open the scoring at 7:17 and Hunter Tremblay
(Timmins, ON) capped the offensive explosion five minutes later by
setting up Jordan Clendenning (Fredericton, NB) for the final goal of
the game in the 4-0 victory.
Tremblay, the CIS MVP last season, had been held pointless the last
two games, and his pass that Clendenning one-timed past Marion earned
him his 178th career regular season point, establishing a new UNB
record. The old record was held by Tremblay's linemate his first year
at UNB, Rob Hennigar, who went on to also win the CIS MVP honour, plus
the BLG Award in 2008. Tremblay was much happier about the two points
for his team rather than the one point for him. "I was thinking that
we had a two-game slide last weekend and I didn't want to go a whole
entire month on a losing streak and once the floodgates opened I
thought we could get it done tonight." "It" being the UNB points
record that has been perhaps weighing on him a bit.
For 47 minutes the game was deadlocked, with UdeM goalie Marion making
30 saves to that point to keep the game scoreless. Then defencemen
Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PEI) carried the puck into the Moncton
zone and threaded a pass to a streaking Campbell who split the Moncton
defence and deked out Marion. Just over a minute later Corcoran found
himself on the other side of the ice along the goal line and "it was a
delayed penalty and I saw he [Marion] was cheating over and didn't
think I was going to come to the net so I just pushed it toward the
net" and the puck bounced off Marion's right pad and past him. The
goal was Corcoran's first as a V-Red in AUS conference play.
The next goal came just over two minutes later on the power play when
fellow defenceman Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) was all alone on the left
circle, and had enough time to settle down a wobbly puck before
snapping it into the top corner as Marion was still coming across his
crease. With a now comfortable lead, the stage was now set for a
relieved Tremblay to set his UNB record two minutes later on the
Clendenning power play goal. V-Reds head coach Gardiner MacDougall
then used his timeout so that Tremblay could get a well deserved
ovation from the more than 3600 fans at the Aitken University Centre,
the majority of them school children, plus receive a record
recognition plaque at centre ice from UNB Athletic Director Kevin
Dickie.
For MacDougall it was a special night and a great advertisement of CIS
hockey. "It was a great environment, and the kids add such excitement,
they were our seventh man tonight." Twice a season the V-Reds have a
promotional night for schools in the Fredericton area that fill the
stands. For Tremblay, "I love it, it's like being back in Junior or in
a pro game." Speaking of Tremblay, coach MacDougall was happy to see
him get his accolades from the crowd (and on live television). "He
deserves it. He had a couple of shots earlier in the game that didn't
go in and he set up his teammates several times. Like last weekend,
sometimes they just don't go in." For Moncton coach Serge Bourgeois,
"Hunter Tremblay is the best player in the AUS and we had played him
tough two previous games this season, but couldn't stop him this time."
Almost lost in the excitement was the fine play of UNB goaltender
Travis Fullerton (Riverview, NB). While not near as busy as Marion
(Moncton was only credited with 11 shots on net, while UNB had 42) he
did have to make several key saves, and the shutout is Fullerton's
third of the season to lead the AUS.
The Varsity Reds go into the exam and Christmas break still in first
place in the AUS with a record of 11-4-0 while les Aigles Bleus drop
their fifth in a row and sit in seventh place with a 5-8-2 record.
Next up for UNB will be the visiting McGill Redmen on December 30th,
and then they host the NCAA's Providence College Friars on January 1st
and 2nd for the annual Pete Kelly Cup Challenge. The V-Reds return to
conference play when they host the Dalhousie Tigers on January 7th.
4 comments:
Congrats Hunter. You certainly are the best player I've ever seen wear a UNB jersey.
Love Hunter; but gotta say I think Darryl Boyce was pretty amazing (only played 2 years though)
John LeBlanc wasn't too bad, and he made it to the big leagues. Greg Holst also played for UNB and went on to a pro career. For pure talent, hard to beat Derek Cormier during his heyday.
Johnny had size, as did Kevin Henderson ... which is why they got contracts. The deck is stacked against Hunter making the show because of his size and the fact he is a free agent, but he certainly could play high minor pro.
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