Well, here we go in the stretch drive more commonly known as the second half in the AUHC. Don't blink, because before you know it we will be in playoffs. After the weekend just past the teams only have 12 games left in the regular season.
While we waited for the Christmas Break to end we got to watch New Brunswickers Mike Mole of StFX and Dominic Noel of Dalhousie get drafted by the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs respectively at the Making the Cut final. Please don't label me a cynic, but seeing as so many CIS players go to pro camps every fall I think the more lasting prizes for Mole and Noel will be the new Mazda RX-8s they won.
The AUS was well represented in the Christmas tourney circuit. After losing to Lakehead in a post-overtime shootout in the round robin, UNB bounced back and beat the Thunderwolves 5-3 in the Bell University Cup final. This is the second year in a row that the V-Reds have won the Thunder Bay tournament. Around the same time, StFX and UdeM met in an all-Atlantic final at the Montreal University Cup and the X-Men squeaked out the 3-2 win. St. Mary's made the long storm-delayed trip to Edmonton and had trouble scoring goals as the number one ranked Alberta Golden Bears beat them 4-0 and 4-1. Acadia hosted the UofT Varsity Blues for two games, and beat them 4-3 and 4-2. Overall, a pretty good batting average against the competition.
Now let's get back to league play. UNB's and X's tournament successes didn't really translate to victory points back in the AUHC. UNB was on the road and once again Acadia played them tough. Both teams will have a shorter bench in the second half as UNB has lost CIS rookie-of-the-year Kevin Young on the point after shoulder surgery and rookie power forward Derrick Atkinson with a broken foot. Both will be gone for the duration of the season, as will Acadia defenceman Kane Ludwar who fractured a vertebra in his lower back in a game in November against the V-Reds in Fredericton. After no scoring in the first the teams exchanged goals in the second period and Acadia's Kevin Baker scored late in the second to regain the lead. Troy Stonier scored a power-play marker midway through the third, but UNB took a penalty late in the game and Robbie Sutherland scored with just under a minute to go. 33 seconds later an empty-netter sealed the 4-2 win for the Axemen.
The next night it was onto Halifax and the St. Mary's Huskies. 1-1 after one period, SMU scored twice in the second to take the 3-1 lead. UNB scores two of their own in the first half of the third period and the teams are tied again and overtime looms. Then at 18:57 Jordan Chomack scores and once again it looks like UNB had blown another tie. Just under a minute to go UNB pulls Reg Bourcier from the nets and with the extra attacker UNB's Rob Hennigar scores with 5 seconds to go to force overtime. Then the hockey gods changed their minds and Ryan Lauzon scored with 6 seconds to go in overtime to earn the hat trick and more importantly the win for first place SMU. All of that and only one point on the weekend for UNB.
For the flu-ravaged X-Men they started the weekend in Moncton and couldn't score as les Aigles Bleus skated to the 3-0 win. Moncton male athlete-of-the-week goalie Jonathan Pelletier was in similar form the following night as he held the Dalhousie Tigers to one goal as UdeM won 4-1 and picked up 4 points on the weekend and sit all alone in second place.
Saturday went better for the X-Men, although it didn't start that way. The St. Thomas Tommies had a tremendous Friday night at the LBR in Fredericton, exploding for 6 unanswered goals in the last 13 minutes of the third period as they came back and thumped the Dalhousie Tigers 7-4. STU came out flying against X and were outshooting them by a 2-1 margin but didn't score in the first period, but picked up two goals in the second period. X's Patty Grandmaitre finally got their sticks going w