V-Reds put run to Huskies to earn another title shot
MONCTON - The University of Saskatchewan Huskies never knew what hit them in Saturday afternoon's Cavendish University Cup men's hockey semifinal.
The Huskies are known for their physical play, but the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds laid the muscle and the hustle on their western opponents to post a 4-0 victory in front of 3,487 fans at the Moncton Coliseum.
Kyle Bailey and Rob Pearce sandwiched power play goals around John Scott Dickson's even-strength marker. Dickson set up Hunter Tremblay for the fourth goal, a tap-in past Huskies goalie Jeff Harvey at 12:20 of the third.
Second-team all-Canadian Mike Ouzas made 23 saves for the shutout and benefited from two hit posts: Derek Endicott when it was 1-0 late in the first and Curtis Austring when UNB led 3-0 late in the second.
Ouzas turned aside five shots during a Saskatchewan power play midway through the second and that was the biggest counter-punch for the Huskies, who were outshot 40-23.
"You always ask your players for a 60-minute effort,'' UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall said. "You rarely get to 60, but today we were pretty complete in a lot of areas. We know Saskatchewan likes to be real physical and we wanted to attack their strengths.''
UNB rookie defenceman Alex Aldred, who had two assists and a hit post, said the Reds knew it was important to initiate the physical play.
"We tried to come out and beat them at their own game,'' Aldred said. "We wanted to set the tone rather than be on our heels.''
"They're very quick out there with their puck pressure and puck pursuit,'' Austring said.
"We were just trying to regroup and get our bearings again.''
The Huskies took just two penalties in the first 59-plus minutes but UNB turned both into power play goals.
"We knew coming in that special teams in playoff games will win or lose the game,'' U of S fifth-year captain Brent Twordik said. "They were plus-2 on special teams and they won.''
The Reds got all they would need 11:28 into the game. Second-year standout Lachlan MacIntosh passed to Aldred, who zipped the puck to Bailey for a backdoor one-timer. Dickson's wrist shot sailed past Harvey's trapper 1:36 into the second and Pearce, on the V-Reds' second PP, tipped Aldred's point shot with 4:09 left in the period for a 3-0 cushion.
The V-Reds held the Huskies to just four shots in the third.
It's a long season,'' Dickson said. "This is what you compete for all year, shift by shift, game by game. So obviously getting back to the championship final is pretty special.''
"We ran into a pretty good team today, especially in the first 30 minutes," said Saskatchewan coach Dave Adolph. "I think they're equally as deep and dangerous as last year. There's a lot of talk about the fact they have 10 first-year players, but you never really noticed they were first-year players."
MacDougall says the UNB veterans have been outstanding in guiding the newcomers. "These (new) guys didn't walk into the water gingerly. They just ran to the water and dove in head first.''
Harvey, played only his second game since Jan. 26, reaggravated a hamstring injury when he made a spectacular blocker save off Bailey in the second period but gutted it out to stay in the semifinal.
"I really can't say enough about Jeff Harvey,'' Austring said. "He gave us a fantastic effort. They were a better team than us today. They outworked us and got what they deserved.''
McGill 3, Moncton 0
One night after being blasted 7-3 by the University of Alberta Golden Bears, the McGill Redmen rebounded to blank the host Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus 3-0.
As a result, the idle Bears, who had lost 2-1 in OT to Moncton, became the first 1-1 team to advance to the final since the six-team format was adopted 11 years ago.
Mathieu Poitras stopped 40 shots, including 17 in the third when UdeM pressed hard, to keep 3,987 fans from erupting.
"I knew they were going to bounce back and I knew even more that Poitras was going to have a good game because I coached him in junior,'' UdeM coach Bob Mongrain said.
"They're a fast team and they put a lot of pressure on us,'' Mongrain said. "It took us longer to get going and that gave them a lot of confidence. But I'm very proud of my players because they battled to the very last second.''
Guillaume Demers, from a sharp-angle, roofed the puck past Aigles Bleus goalie Kevin Lachance nine minutes into the game and blueliner Ben Gazdic, on a 5-on-3 power play, ripped the insurance goal by Lachance at 11:25 of the third. Yan Turcotte added an empty-netter with a minute to go.
Poitras made two tremendous stops off AUS all-star defenceman Francis Trudel and denied Mathieu Betournay on a breakaway with 13:20 to play to preserve a 1-0 lead.
"The puck was bouncing and I didn't get the shot off that I wanted,'' Betournay said. "But you have to give them credit because they didn't give us a lot of space out there. We worked hard, we gave a second effort, but the puck wouldn't go in for us.''
"I don't want to take anything away from Alberta, they're a great team," Poitras said. "But (on Friday), we had a few bounces go against us. I think the first three goals were off one of our sticks. It's a nice way to end for sure. There's only two teams in the country that will end their season with a (playoff) win and we're one of them."
"This is a very emotional win for us," said McGill coach Martin Raymond. "Although we knew we were pretty much eliminated mathematically (from reaching the final) the guys came out with an unbelievable effort. I'm very, very proud. They really touched my heart tonight.
"This win definitely brings closure to our season,'' Raymond said. "We've had a lot of character wins and all year, whenever the chips were down, we showed up to play.''
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