 |  |
CIS men's hockey Sunday roundup: V-Reds reclaim 1st place with big win
| Scoring Summary | |
|---|---|
| 2nd - 16:18 | Pier-Alexandre Pouli (Moncton) |
| 3rd - 09:31 | Kyle Bailey (UNB) |
| 3rd - 12:32 | PP - Thomas Nesbitt (UNB) |
| Moncton | UNB |
|---|---|
|
G:
Pier-Alexandre Poulin - 1
A: 2 Players (#11, #27 - 1) Sh: Dean Ouellet - 5 Sv: P-A Marion - 42 |
G:
2 Players (#32, #79 - 1)
A: 4 Players (#3, #21, #26, #79 - 1) Sh: Kyle Bailey - 8 Sv: Daniel Lacosta - 15 |
| TEAM STATISTICS | Moncton | UNB |
|---|---|---|
| Power Plays | 0 for 5 | 1 for 5 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 6 (20) | 5 (10) |
| Shots on Goal | 16 | 44 |
| Face Offs Won | 31 | 46 |
Photo credit Brian Smith
FREDERICTON – In the battle of the two top teams, the
University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds were forced to come from
behind to defeat l'Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus 2-1
Sunday afternoon and recapture first place in the AUS men's hockey
conference. Goaltender P-A Marion tried his best to steal the win
for short staffed Moncton, making 42 saves in the loss, while
rookie V-Reds forward Thomas Nesbitt set up the tying goal and
scored the winner.
It was a bit of a novel situation for the reigning CIS champions
– UNB's loss to UPEI Friday put them in second place for the
first time since the early weeks of last season, and the rare
afternoon match-up was against the very team that just moved past
them into first place after a close win against St. Thomas. Despite
(or maybe because of) the importance of the game, neither team
looked particularly sharp or intense in the first period. The best
scoring chance for either team came at 7:28 when UNB rookie Tyler
Carroll (Strathroy, ON) was tripped up driving the net and yet
still managed to get a shot away that went off the far post. The
V-Reds didn't come any closer on the resultant power play. Shots in
the first period favoured UNB 12-6, although few were from close
in.
The chess match changed midway through the second period, when UNB
put a couple of back-to-back strong forechecking shifts together
and dominated play from that point forward. However, P-A Marion was
standing tall in the nets to frustrate the V-Reds shooters and gave
up few rebounds for second shot attempts. The opportunistic Aigles
Bleus were first on the scoreboard at 16:18 when they took
advantage of a delayed penalty call, and UNB defenceman
Marc-Anotine Desnoyers (St.-Hippolyte, QC) down on the ice in the
slot, for Pier-Alexandre Poulin (Beauceville, QC) to let a point
shot go that beat a partially screened Daniel LaCoasta (Labrador
City, NL). UNB outshot Moncton 18-7 in the second period.
The third period was even more unbalanced in favour of the home
team. Just before the three minute mark Marion made a couple of big
saves on Jeff Lee (Calgary, AB) when he drove to the Moncton net.
Thirty seconds later UdeM d-man Christopher Guay (Pont Rouge, QC)
checked Spencer Corcoran (Summerside, PE) hard into the corner
boards in a dangerous play that left Corcoran motionless for a few
seconds on the ice, although he was able to leave the game on his
own steam. Surprisingly Guay was only assessed a minor penalty for
checking from behind, plus the automatic ten-minute misconduct, and
the UNB power play only lasted three seconds before their irate
bench was called for chirping at the closest of the two referees.
That did not go over well with the 2538 fans nervously waiting for
a UNB goal.
UNB finally solved Marion on their 41st shot at 9:31 when Thomas
Nesbitt (Ottawa, ON) was first to the puck behind the Moncton net
and he passed to captain Kyle Bailey (Ponoka, AB) steaming into the
slot who made no mistake with his high shot. The V-Reds took the
lead a few minutes later at 12:32 on the power play, when Desnoyers
faked the point shot and fired a cross-ice slap pass to the right
faceoff circle that Nesbitt was able to handle and snap under
Marion's arm. UNB outshot Moncton 14-3 in the final period, and
44-16 in the game. UdeM was 0-for-4 on the power play while the
V-Reds were 1-for-5.
Moncton head coach Serge Bourgeois was not completely disappointed
with the result of the game. “We don't like losing for sure.
The guys showed today. I don't think anybody expected us to win.
But I think in our dressing room we do. We gave a good effort out
there I think. We were shorthanded. We were missing some key guys
and in the third period it really showed.” In terms of P-A
Marion's strong play in the game and his best season so far in the
AUS, Bourgeois said, “I think we're helping him a whole lot
more up front but he's making the saves, the key saves, and he made
a couple of wonderful saves tonight.”
The game's first star, Thomas Nesbitt, was asked about the
frustration of UNB having the territorial edge in play for so long
before getting on the board and he answered: “Their goalie
was playing real well, so it was getting a bit frustrating. But the
boys handled themselves really well. I'm a first-year guy coming in
here and there's a lot of veterans in the room and they stay really
calm and keep the young guys calm too between the periods. They've
obviously been there before and it was good that we were able to
pull it out.”
UNB now has a 9-2-1 record in conference play for 19 points and
first place in the AUS. Moncton is just one point back with a 9-3-0
record, and third place Acadia is just one more point back with a
8-3-1 record. The Varsity Reds only have one game next weekend when
they travel down the hill to play St. Thomas Friday night.
Game Notes: Three stars - 1. Thomas Nesbitt 2. Kyle Bailey 3. Ben
Wright. UNB goalie Travis Fullerton, defenceman Josh Kidd and
forwards Jordan Clendenning and Luke Lynes are still out of the
line-up with injuries. Stefan Salituro also did not dress. Matt
Davis was the back-up goalie on the bench. Moncton was missing
forwards Kevin Charland, Alex Quesnel and Christian Gaudet and
defenceman Mathieu Labrie.
Source:
UNB Sports Info
