UNB captain Bailey leads Varsity Reds with 4 goals in 9-4 win over STU

FREDERICTON – The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds men's hockey team continue their perfect season, exploding for five goals in the second period as they cruised to a 9-4 win over cross-campus rival St. Thomas Tommies. Their 21st consecutive win guarantees that the Varsity Reds can finish no lower than second place in the AUS, and thus they have clinched a first round playoff bye with seven games left in the regular season.

There was a season-high, standing room crowd of 811 fans at the Lady Beaverbrook Rink, as the Tommies celebrated their 16th Annual Lou Chabot Memorial Game. However, it was the Varsity Reds who dominated the early play, and when Lachlan MacIntosh (Perth-Andover, NB) stick handled through the STU zone and couldn't find a good shooting lane he put the shot back to Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) in the low shot who beat Tommies netminder Charles Lavigne (Bernardin, ON) with a quick shot at 2:23. UNB continued to pour on the pressure, but the momentum changed midway through the period when UNB defenceman Ben Wright (Foremost, AB) was assessed a five minute major penalty and automatic game misconduct for checking from behind. It only took 12 seconds for the Tommies power play to tie the game up at 9:43. Fourteen seconds later Bailey went end-to-end shorthanded and slipped the puck past Lavigne to put the Varsity Reds back in front.

At 14:58 Kenton Dulle (Craik, SK) deflected a shot dramatically over Fullerton's shoulder to tie the game again for the Tommies. Just 35 seconds later the Tommies Devan Praught (Summerside, PE) banged in a rebound to give the Tommies their first lead. UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall then opted to put Derek Yeomans (St. Albert, AB) in the Varsity Reds net. UNB outshot STU 16-11 in the period.

Early in the second period STU's Dietrich got caught holding Chris Culligan's (Howie Center, NS) stick and on the resulting power play Bailey rifled a shot past Lavigne to complete his natural hat trick at 3:12. UNB defenceman Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PE) was whistled for a blow to the head at 3:33 and had the automatic ten minute misconduct added and the V-Reds were temporarily down to four starting d-men. Despite this setback it only took UNB another 44 seconds to retake the lead, shorthanded, as Culligan scored a highlight reel goal as he one-timed the pass from Luke Gallant (Bedford, NS). UNB kept pouring it on, and at 5:40 Jeff Lee (Calgary, AB) scored on the power play to make it 5-3. STU then switched goalies and put Ben MacFarlane (Woodstock, NB) in. and was doing well until 9:46 when Dion Campbell (Melville, SK) made a nice pass to Bailey and the UNB captain scored his fourth goal of the game. UNB scored again at 14:05 as Alex Aldred (St. Albert, AB) snapped the shot through a crowd to make it 7-3 for UNB. Shots in the period were 11-5 in favour of UNB.

Lavigne was back in the Tommies net to start the third period. STU had an effective power play early in the period and Mike Reich (Craik, SK) finally was able to get the puck past Yeomans at 4:27 to bring St. Thomas within three goals. UNB was on the power play when at 11:49 Daine Todd (Stettler, AB) came in from the left point to the back door and had two whacks at the puck before he scored on Lavigne. UNB's final goal came at 17:24, on the power play, when MacIntosh scored from the slot. UNB outshot STU 12-10 in the third period and 39-26 in the 9-4 victory. The Varsity Reds were 4-for-6 on the power play while STU was 2-for-6.

After the game MacDougall commented that he liked how his team responded after the first twenty minutes. “We probably deserved a better result in the first period as we missed some chances. There is a lot of leadership in the room and the team gave a good effort and capitalized on their opportunities.” He can't remember a better regular season game for captain Kyle Bailey, and MacDougall was complimentary of veteran Josh Hepditch. “We were missing defencemen Josh Kidd to suspension and Jonathan Harty to injury to start the game. Ben Wright was ejected in the first period and Spencer Corcoran had 12 minutes of penalties in the second period, so we moved Hepditch back to defence and he did a good job and the others did well with their extra ice time.” In the third period Josh Hepditch was back as a forward on the energy line, the same place he started the game.

Next weekend the Varsity Reds host the Saint Mary's Huskies on Friday and the Acadia Axemen on Saturday at the Aitken University Centre. Both games will also be broadcast province-wide on Rogers TV on the internet through News-Cast.com and on the radio with CHSR.

Source:

David Kilfoil for UNB Sports Information.