With the Atlantic University Hockey Conference all-stars in Torino wearing Team Canada jerseys at the World University Games, there was a somewhat reduced schedule of games this week. As I write this Canada has already defeated the USA 5-0 and smoked the heavily outclassed Korean team 14-0; their first real competition comes against Slovakia on Monday. Team Canada head coach Trevor Stienburg, from the Saint Mary's Huskies, has taken great pains to explain that as much as Canadians don't like to run up the score goal differential will be used to break any ties in the standings.
The #1 ranked Universit de Moncton Aigles Bleus had only one game this week and it was a doozy, as they stormed back in the third period with three goals in 100 seconds to defeat the reeling Acadia Axemen 6-4 Friday night in Wolfville, NS. UdeM is minus their three top forwards and their best defenceman; Acadia is playing without their best forward, defenceman and starting goaltender for the duration of the WUG.
Also on Friday the visiting University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds appeared to prove the point that it is a very different Saint Mary's Huskies team when they are missing their go-to guy Dan Rudisuela (St. Catharines, ON), who I think should be a shoo-in for the conference MVP award this season. It was a bizarre game in Halifax, as first the teams had to play at SMU's old and undersized rink on campus, as the Halifax Forum was tied up with the Canadian figure skating championships.
Then minutes before the game an apparent power brownout affected the rink, knocking out the scoreboard, timer's equipment and goal lights and the PA and music systems, but leaving the rink lights on. The teams then opted to play the game old school with the timer using a stopwatch and shouting himself hoarse as he constantly updated the players, benches and officials on the time remaining in powerplays and the game itself. Fortunately the power was restored for the beginning of the second period and stayed on for the rest of the game. It was a physical fast-paced game as veteran Stacy Smallman (O'Leary, PE) led the V-Reds with two goals in their 4-1 win. UNB of course is missing their three top forwards and defenceman while SMU is without their top two forwards and defenceman.
The other game Friday saw the red-hot StFX X-Men stop the surging Dalhousie Tigers 5-3 in Antigonish, NS. The X-Men are minus their best forward and defenceman while the Tigers are only short one forward.
On Saturday UNB went from the smallest ice-surface the night before to the largest in the conference as they travelled to Wolfville to play the Axeman. Whether that was the reason or not, team defence went out the window as both UNB goaltenders were left hanging as the team was humbled by Acadia 7-3, despite outshooting the Axemen 39-33 and dominating the play in the first period. Axeman veterans Brad Horan (Alliston, ON) and Shayne Fryia (Peterborough, ON) each had a hat-trick to lead their team and keep them in a tie for sixth place in the standings, the vital last playoff spot.
Also on Saturday the UPEI Panthers, minus starting goaltender Paul Drew (Merlin, ON) who is the starting goalie for Team Canada in Torino, beat the StFX X-Men 4-1 in Charlottetown in a penalty filled match that saw 158 penalty minutes handed out, but no fighting majors. It couldn't have been a pretty game to watch.
The last game of the weekend was in Fredericton, as the struggling St. Thomas Tommies were hosting the Dal Tigers. Dal scored three goals in the first period, and another early in the second period, only to see STU's Thatcher Bell (Murray Harbour, PE) reel off a natural hat-trick in just under eight minutes to bring the home team within one goal. In the third period Dal replied with three straight goals of their own, two of them on the powerplay, to put the game away. STU could only reply with one goal with 12 seconds to go in the game as they lost 7-4. For