So we’ve reached the midway point of the AUS men’s hockey season, 14 games, and there’s still one more weekend of games to go. This year the AUS coaches elected to play a 16-12 schedule split so that they could finish the second half and playoffs one week earlier — a response to the 2013 PotashCorp University Cup starting a week earlier in March than usual.
UNB is now solely in first place in the standing, but just one narrow point ahead of Acadia, and three points ahead of Saint Mary’s. Quote of the week goes to Winnipeg’s ‘Hollywood3’ on HFBoards discussing his ‘Official Hollywood Top 35’, a counter to the CIS Top 10, “I am concerned about the skew in the AUS. They now have 5 teams in A level, 1 team in B level, and 2 teams in C level. But the teams take turns beating each other and although Moncton is now borderline, that can change week to week. Just last week SMU and SFX were on the outside looking in.” The Varsity Reds close out the first “half” against the Axemen next Saturday in Wolville in a game that will probably decide who gets to sit at the top of the board over the holidays.
Penalties do matter. Especially 5-on-3 situations.
There’s a lot going well for the Varsity Reds in the first half. While veteran goalie Travis Fullerton has been pretty average in nets (and came down sick before this past weekend), a healthy Dan LaCosta has been very sharp and is 8-0-0. The three rookies have all made an impact and former Saint Mary’s captain Colby Pridham is second on the team in points (15). After a bit of a slow start, team captain Chris Culligan has been on a tear since missing two games when he was sick. Culligan leads the team in points (16) and linemate Tyler Carroll has the team lead in goals (8). Several players have played on that line’s right wing; the last four games it has been former X-Men Bryce Swan’s turn and he’s scored four of his six goals this season. The team graduated their top three defencemen from last season, but have hardly missed a step, except on the penalty kill.
Yes, the UNB penalty kill. Sixth worst in the AUS at 79.3%. The V-Reds have given up more goals (19) shorthanded than they’ve scored on the power play (17) so far this season. In UNB’s three losses this half (yes, I know it is only three, but I’ll get to that) special teams were the difference – their opponents had multiple goals on the power play while the Varsity Reds came up blank with the man advantage. Even-strength UNB is a notch better than everyone else in the AUS, but they keep taking penalties (second most in the conference) to allow teams to get ahead or back into games. Two weekends ago the Varsity Reds interrupted their bad habit of seemingly at least once a game taking a penalty while on the penalty kill. But they were back at it this weekend.
Midway through Friday’s game against UPEI the V-Reds had a 2-0 lead. Then a d-man took a hooking penalty on a Panthers rush (that seems to happen a lot) and Culligan took a slashing penalty on the penalty kill. UPEI scored on the 5-on-3 and again 23 seconds later to tie it up with Culligan still in the box. The Panthers were back in the game energy and momentum-wise, and after they traded goals in the third period it took a last-minute Swan goal for UNB to win. Saturday in Moncton the V-Reds had a comfortable 4-0 lead going into the second period. Then they got into penalty trouble. Aigles Blues defenceman Remi Blanchard scored twice on 5-on-3 power plays to get UdeM back into the game. But Moncton frittered that away in the third period with penalties of their own and UNB scored twice on the power play, including a 5-on-3 of their own, to put the game away.
Finally, back to the UNB goaltenders. It has been well documented soap opera how the V-Reds dressed six goalies last season when injuries and/or illnesses had Fullerton and LaCosta out of the line-up. Former St. Thomas goalie and UNB MBA student Matt Davis ended up starting four games for them last season. Well late this past week Fullerton was sick in bed, so the team scrambled Friday and made eligible another former-Tommie now-UNB-grad-student, Charles Lavigne. Lavigne has been playing senior hockey on weekends in Newfoundland this season while he waits for Fullerton and LaCosta to each finish up their fifth year of eligibility. While he burns/uses one year of eligibility for sitting on the UNB bench this past weekend, Lavigne has two years of eligibility left and was only planning on playing next year in the red ‘n black, so all is good there. Luck for the V-Reds was that Lavigne’s team on the Rock had a bye weekend and he was still in town and available.
Friday – UPEI 3 @ UNB 4
Saturday – UNB 6 @ UdeM 2
Overtime loss slides Axemen into second place
Acadia has gradually been reeled in by UNB. The Axemen’s five-game win streak ended in Fredericton two weekends ago. That game also ended goaltender Peter DiSalvo’s nine-game unbeaten streak. Friday Acadia dominated Dalhousie, winning 4-1 while outshooting the Tigers 41-24. Defenceman Chris Owens continued his torrid points pace by being involved in all of the scoring with a goal and three assists. Saturday was a different affair, a back and forth game with the visiting Huskies. Still tied 2-2 after the ten-minute overtime, Alex Beaton and Brett Thompson couldn’t repeat their highlight reel shootout goal moves from October 20 against Moncton and Acadia had to settle for the one point.
Friday – Dal 1 @ Acadia 4
Saturday – SMU 3 @ Acadia 2 OT-SO
Huskies nipping at leaders’ heels
Over the last ten games UNB had won eight times and both Acadia and Saint Mary’s have seven wins. They are the three hottest teams in the AUS. Everyone else is .500 or worse over the same period. Huskies power forward Lucas Bloodoff is enjoying a breakout year and leads the AUS with 10 goals (with 5 on the power play) and 21 points. Stephen Johnston (8 G, 8A) is tied for 3rd with UNB’s Culligan and Acadia’s Andrew Clark with 16 points. I guess Saint Mary’s head coach Trevor Stienburg didn’t have to worry about where his scoring was going to come this season from after all. Goalie Anthony Peters has nine wins (tied for 1st), a 2.65 goals against average (4th best), and a .900 save percentage (3rd best). SMU had a decisive 5-2 win over StFX on Friday (shots were 43-23) and they came out on the winning side of a close fought game with Acadia on Saturday when Matt Tipoff and Johnston both scored in the shootout.
Friday – StFX 2 @ SMU 5
Saturday – SMU 3 @ Acadia 2 OT-SO
StFX splits
After the X-Men got chewed up by the Huskies on Friday they rebounded the next night, again in the Halifax Forum, with a 5-2 win over the Tigers in a game that was apparently closer than the score. Rookie defenceman Bronson Mashmeyer continues to impress as he led all skaters in the game with two goals and an assist.
Friday – StFX 2 @ SMU 5
Saturday – StFX 5 @ Dal 2
Les Aigles grounded
After a great start to the season, Moncton is 7-5-2 at the midpoint and riding a three-game losing streak. Friday they had furious first period against the Tommies, outshooting STU 22-6 but were still down 1-0. While UdeM tied it up in the second period the Tommies went ahead late in the period and added two more goals in the final period, including an empty netter. Final shots 47-21 for Moncton in the loss. Saturday back home against UNB Moncton’s rookie goalie Adrien Lemay had a rough start, surrendering three goals in the first half of the period. That got him a respite on the bench, but he was back for the second and third periods. As mentioned earlier, Moncton’s only goals against UNB came on 5-on-3 power plays in the second period. The game got a bit nasty late, when after UdeM defenceman Simon Lacroix high-sticked Cam Critchlow in the face when they were all tied up, a line brawl developed nearby in front of the Moncton bench. Lots of roughing and 10-minute misconducts, but no major penalties.
Friday – UdeM 1 @ STU 4
Saturday – UNB 6 @ UdeM 2
Panthers scratching for 6th place
It is bit interesting, numerically, to look at the AUS standings win column and see 11-10-9-8-7 counting down to UPEI with 6 wins and in sixth place. The Panthers had their losing streak stretched to four games with the loss to UNB Friday in Fredericton, but they bounced back just a couple of kilometres south (and uphill) at the Grant•Harvey Centre, the new home for the Tommies. This was a back and forth game that was tied up three times, but veteran Jordan Knox got the winner in the third period.
Friday – UPEI 3 @ UNB 4
Saturday – UPEI 4 @ STU 3
Tough times for Tigers
While they are only three points back of UPEI for the last playoff spot, Dalhousie has struggled since goaltender Bobby Nadeau left their game against UPEI with an injury back on October 26. They are 2-6-1 with Wendell Vye or Russ Brownell (formerly of UofT) in nets since then and the wins were against UPEI and STU. This weekend they were no match for Acadia, and while they kept the shots even versus StFX they still lost.
Friday – Dal 1 @ Acadia 4
Saturday – StFX 5 @ Dal 2
Tommies WIN! Tommies WIN!
Lots of excitement in Fredericton Friday night as news tweeted out that the Tommies had a lead against arch-rival UdeM, in Moncton, and held on for the win, their first after 12 straight losses to start the season. There was even a loud cheer at the Aitken University Centre when they announced the STU score during the UNB game (or maybe they were just trying to jinx them …). Rookie Tommies netminder Jonathan Groenheyde reportedly stood on his head in the first period, making 22 saves, and was solid the rest of the game as he made 47 saves in total. The deciding goal was a Felix Poulin power play marker with four seconds to go in the second period. Saturday, back home at the GHC, the Tommies came back to earth in a close loss to the Panthers, snarly after their loss to UNB the night before.
Friday – UdeM 1 @ STU 4
Saturday – UPEI 4 @ STU 3
Next weekend
Games 15 and 16 in the AUS will be ahead of the Christmas break for the first time ever. UNB and travel partner UPEI are on the road to play Dalhousie and Acadia, while Saint Mary’s and StFX will be at Moncton and St. Thomas. Key games for the top of the standings look to be the UNB-Acadia and Saint Mary’s-Moncton meetings on Saturday, while the UPEI-Dal game, also on Saturday, could end up being a factor if the Tigers hope to make the playoffs.
Adding to the Tommies "successes," Saturday night vs UPEI Colin Martin and Steve Sanza each had three point nights (Sanza was double-shifting) and the Tommies played the 3rd period with a 12-man bench (Hennegan and Brown didn't play in the third).
ReplyDeleteUPEI's game-winning goal was an unlucky bounce off the end boards from a Reggie Traccitto point shot, right to Jordan knox on the doorstep.
STU put up a season-high 35 shots, while UPEI put up 42, also a season-high.
Despite the loss, I was proud of my home-school Tommies, but Troy Ryan said it's important not to fall into a pattern of "celebrating loses."