Well it didn't go down to the last day of the regular season, but the second last, as the Atlantic University Hockey Conference playoff picture was finally decided. UNB got off to a slow start Friday night at the Mark Jeffrey game before over 3300 fans as the visiting Tommies scored twice in the first period. However Colin Sinclair (Brooks, AB) got the V-Reds going with a powerplay goal just 26 seconds into the second period and by the time the ice chips settled less than 14 minutes later UNB had exploded for five goals, three of them from Sinclair.
The shell shocked Tommies managed to get one more of their own during the offensive flurry, but if not for the strong play of STU netminder Aaron Molnar (Dorchester, ON), the score could have been even more unbalanced. Neither team scored in the third period as UNB settled into a stifling defensive mode limiting the Tommies to one shot in the last 20 minutes. Final score was 5-3 UNB and shots favoured the home team 33-18. With the win UNB clinched second place and the resulting first round playoff bye.
Defending AUHC champion Acadia held onto a two-goal first period lead and defeated Saint Mary's 4-2 to finally secure the sixth and last playoff spot on Friday, dashing the faint hopes of Dalhousie and UPEI. It was a moot point as the Tigers lost 4-2 to StFX and the Panthers were hammered 8-2 by Moncton, as UdeM stormed back from a one goal deficit midway through the game with seven unanswered goals in the last half of the game.
With Friday deciding the season, Saturday's games became important only as playoff tune-ups with coaches fretting about potential injuries and score settling. The Acadia-StFX game was a chippy affair on Saturday, with 71 minutes in penalties and a major penalty to X's Peter Flache (Peterborough, ON). It was perhaps no coincidence that these two teams will meet this week in the playoffs, and Acadia won this one 3-1.
In the Battle of Halifax Dalhousie salvaged some pride by beating Saint Mary's 6-5 in overtime as Tom Zanoski (Brampton, ON) got his second of the game. Tiger goaltender Matt Anthony (Wheatley, ON) stole the show, as his team was outshot 46-25 in the game. Saint Mary's will move on to play St. Thomas this week in the first round of the playoffs.
For the second night in a row UNB spotted their opponent a two-goal first period lead Saturday night, but Denny Johnston (Rosetown, SK) scored late in the third period to break the tie as the V-Reds won 4-3 over the UPEI Panthers. Moncton's potent offence continued to fire on all cylinders as the les Aigles Bleus humbled the Tommies 8-1, going 5-for-6 on the powerplay with Pierre-Luc Laprise (Jonquire, QC) netting the powerplay hat trick.
StFX and SMU have home ice in their respective three-game playoff series and could both be favoured to win, except that SMU and STU are both banged up so that series is a true Survivor series that could go either way. Moncton will play the lowest seed of the two teams that advance out of the first round, and UNB the higher, in best-of-five series that will decide who advances to Nationals.
David Kilfoil is the longtime broadcast partner with Dave Ritchie for STU and UNB men's hockey on CHSR-FM. The comments above are solely his and don't represent the opinion of CHSR-FM or the UNB Varsity Reds. He can be reached by e-mail at foyle@nbnet.nb.ca.