GAME 3 POOL B: CIS championship: Huskies down Manitoba, advance to national final

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Photo credit Mike Lavoie / Courtesy of Lakehead University sports information

THUNDER BAY, Ont. (CIS) – All-Canadian defenceman Andrew Hotham tallied three points and Cam Fergus scored twice as the third-seeded Saint Mary's Huskies advanced to the University Cup final for the first time since 1973 with a 5-0 win over the No. 5 Manitoba Bisons, Saturday afternoon, at Fort William Gardens.

University Cup website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mice

Game photos http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mice/2009-10/files/photos_3

Highlights http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mice/2009-10/releases/20100325-videos

The AUS champion Huskies (2-0), who opened the CIS men's hockey championship with a 4-2 defeat of McGill on Friday, finish in first place in Pool B and will try to capture the first national title in team history Sunday at 7 p.m. (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada) when they face either Alberta (1-0) or Lakehead (1-0), who will battle for Pool A supremacy on Saturday night.

Saint Mary's played in four straight national finals from 1970 to 1973 but lost each time to the Toronto Varsity Blues by 3-2, 5-4, 5-0 and 3-2.

"We had 20 guys who were ready to play today and I think it was pretty obvious from the puck drop," said head coach Trevor Stienburg, in his 13th season at the helm. "The guys have called this a business trip from day one, and today they got the job done."

"Manitoba is a very good hockey team. I don't think we're five goals better than them. Things just went our way today," added Stienburg, whose team is now 10-1 in post-season play and has won 14 of its last 15 duels overall.

Team captain Marc Rancourt, a fifth-year senior from Gloucester, Ont., said the attitude in the locker room is much different than a year ago, when the Huskies were eliminated after dropping their second pool game 7-2 to Western.

"I think last year we were a little overconfident coming in after winning the AUS championship," said last season's CIS player of the year, who had one assist against Manitoba. "We kind of came to Thunder Bay to have fun and weren't focused enough on the task at hand. This year, it's all about one objective, win a national championship."

Hotham, a junior from Barrie, Ont., who was the highest-scoring rearguard in CIS this season with 39 points in 27 games and tied for the AUS playoff lead with 14 points in nine contests, assisted on the Huskies first two goals and made it 3-0 Saint Mary's 31 seconds into the middle period.

Fergus of Brantford, Ont., made it 2-0 late in the first and rounded out the scoring in the third. Cody Thornton of Woodstock, Ont., tallied the game-winner on the power play 9:55 into the contest, while Colby Pridham of Alberton, P.E.I., had the fourth marker late in the second frame.

Freshman Neil Conway of Concord, Ohio, made 19 saves for the first shutout at the University Cup tournament since 2008, and the first-ever whitewash of Manitoba at the CIS championship.

His counterpart Steve Christie, a fourth-year veteran from Winnipeg who received the inaugural CIS goaltender of the year award on Wednesday, stopped 26 pucks.

"It's disappointing. We were so close to our goal and came up one game short. It just wasn't our day," said Manitoba bench boss Mike Sirant.

The two teams got off to a tentative start and didn't generate much offence in the first half of the initial period.

The Huskies capitalized on their first real scoring chance midway through the frame, only 38 seconds after Mike Hellyer was sent to the box for tripping.

Thornton jumped on a rebound off a David MacDonald point shot. After hitting Christie in the mask, the puck bounced in the air and fell behind him into the net.

Saint Mary's dominated the second portion of the period, finishing with a 16-5 advantage in shots and doubling its lead at 17:08.

Hotham's shot from the blue line was blocked by a defenceman but the put went straight to the stick of Fergus, who left no chance to Christie beating him with a wrister to the glove side from 15 feet out.

The Huskies added to their lead only 31 seconds into the second stanza.

Hotham made it 3-0 on a play that was similar to the ones that led to Saint Mary's first two goals. He scored after taking a rebound off a Pridham point shot.

Justin Munden almost gave the Huskies a four-goal cushion with eight minutes left in the second but his backhand shot on a two-on-one hit the crossbar.

Saint Mary's would get that fourth goal five minutes later however when Mike Danton sent a perfect pass from the right board to Pridham, who was all alone in front and beat Christie stick side.

Fergus made in 5-0 after 7:39 of play in the third pushing the disc in an empty net after taking a perfect feed from Rancourt.

GAME NOTES: Thornton had scored twice against McGill on Friday and leads the tournament with three goals... Saint Mary's is 1-3 all-time at the University Cup against potential gold-medal opponent Alberta, and has never faced Lakehead at the CIS championship... The Huskies lost to the Golden Bears 5-3 in the 1969 consolation final, beat Alberta 4-3 in the 1972 semifinals, and were swept 5-4 and 7-1 by the Bears in a best-of-three semifinal in 1977...

SCORING SUMMARY

Saint Mary's 5, Manitoba 0

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:

1. SMU Cody Thornton (3) (David MacDonald, Andrew Hotham), 9:55 PP
2. SMU Cam Fergus (1) (Andrew Hotham, David MacDonald), 17:08

PENALTIES:

Mike Hellyer (MAN) tripping, 9:17;
Cody Thornton (SMU) checking to the head, 12:46;
Cody Thornton (SMU) 10-minute misconduct, 12:46.

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:

3. Andrew Hotham (1) (Colby Pridham, Kyle Doucet), 0:31
4. Colby Pridham (1) (Mike Danton), 15:20

PENALTIES:

Kyle Howarth (MAN) tripping, 5:17;
David MacDonald (SMU) checking to the head, 9:11;
David MacDonald (SMU) 10-minute misconduct, 9:11;
Colby Pridham (SMU) goaltender interference, 12:43;
Chad Erb (MAN) 10-minute misconduct for checking to the head, 15:20;
Chris Morrison (SMU) slashing, 17:17.

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:

5. Cam Fergus (2) (Marc Rancourt, Cody Thornton), 7:39

PENALTIES:

Troy Crowley (MAN) checking to the head, 3:23;
Troy Crowley (MAN) 10-minute misconduct, 3:23;
David MacDonald (SMU) hooking, 8:19;
Kyle Doucet (SMU) closing hand on the puck, 18:24;
Team (MAN - served by Troy Crowley) too many men on the ice, 19:51.

GOALS (by period)
SMU: 2-2-1:5
MAN: 0-0-0:0

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
SMU: 16-7-8: 31
MAN: 5-8-6:19

POWER PLAY:
SMU: 1-5
MAN: 0-6

GOALTENDERS
SMU – Neil Conway (W, 2-0, 19 shots, 19 saves, 0 GA, 60:00)
MAN – Steve Christie (L, 1-1, 31 shots, 26 saves, 5 GA, 60:00)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
SMU: Andrew Hotham
MAN: Stephane Lenoski

REFEREE: Dave Lewis

LINESMEN: Matt Traub, Matthew Carr

ATTENDANCE: 2,793

START: 2:08
END: 4:28
LENGTH: 2:20

POOLS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Pool A
1. Alberta
4. Lakehead
6. UQTR

Pool B
2. McGill
3. Saint Mary's
5. Manitoba

Pool A standings (after 2 of 3 games)

GP W L GF GA PTS
1. Lakehead 1 1 0 7 2 2
2. Alberta 1 1 0 4 2 2
3. UQTR 2 0 2 4 11 0

Pool B standings (FINAL)

1. SMU 2 2 0 9 2 4
2. Manitoba 2 1 1 5 9 2
3. McGill 2 0 2 6 9 0

Thursday, March 25
Pool B #1: Manitoba 5, McGill 4 (OT)
Pool A #1: Alberta 4, UQTR 2

Friday, March 26
Pool B #2: Saint Mary's 4, McGill 2
Pool A #2: Lakehead 7, UQTR 2

Saturday, March 27
Pool B #3: Saint Mary's 5, Manitoba 0
19:00 Pool A #3: Lakehead vs. Alberta (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

Sunday, March 28
19:00 University Cup Final: Saint Mary's vs. TBD (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)

-CIS-