Well, the AUHC playoffs came upon us in a rush, and now we're already onto the second round thanks to a pair of two-game sweeps. On Wednesday the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds hosted the StFX X-Men, the fourth time these rivals have met in the playoffs in the last five years. The regular season series was split between the two teams, with each winning their two home games. The first period was anything but exciting as the two teams felt each other out and looked to be trying to avoid mistakes. Shots were 7-5 UNB.
At almost the six-minute mark of the second period, J-M Boisvert pounced on a rebound after UNB out hustled the X-Men on the cycle, and the game opened up. At 12:02 X's Omar Ennaffati rifled a big rebound to tie the game. But just 22 seconds later, in what was the turning point of the game, Boisvert took a big pass from Rob Hennigar and broke in on goaltender Mike Mole. Understandably focused on Boisvert, Mole didn't pick up the trailing Troy Stonier who received the perfect pass for the easy tip-in and the restoration of the lead. That was all the scoring in the period, but Mole kept the X-Men in the game as UNB outshot them 14-4.
At 8:48 in the third period, player-of-the-game Boisvert was at it again. He fought off a defenceman in the X corner and got the puck back to Jesse Ferguson at the blue line. Ferguson waited for the streaking Colin Sinclair to come off the UNB bench and enter the offensive zone on the right side. He hit Sinclair with a pass on the tape and the centre beat Mole under the crossbar. So smothering was UNB's team defence that the X-Men didn't get their first shot of the period until 10:18, when UNB's Nathan O'Nabigon picked up a slashing penalty. Nine seconds later, Ryan Armstrong drew X within one goal with a power play marker. That was the last shot X got in the game, as UNB continued the pressure and Kyle Werner salted away the game with an empty netter at 19:07, thanks to unselfish play from Stonier and Hennigar. Final score was 4-1 and final shots were 30-11 in favour of UNB. There were only two penalties in the game, one for each team.
At the same time, the UPEI Panthers were hosting the St. Mary's Huskies and thinking upset, especially as they opened the scoring at 5:32 of the first. That was not the case, as SMU chased Panther rookie sensation Paul Drew from the net after their third goal at 8:53 of the second. Replacement Nathan Ramage allowed two more goals before the second period was over. In the third period, UPEI star Joel Ward managed a power play goal, but the Huskies held on for the 5-2 win. Shots favoured SMU 35-21.
On Friday, the teams switched venues. UNB came into the Keating Millennium Centre in Antigonish hoping to put the defending national champions away and not have to go back to Fredericton. The play was close in the first period, with the X-Men actually outshooting the V-Reds 10-8, with eight of their shots coming on their four power plays. In the second period, UNB outshot X 8-7, but there was still no scoring. Finally at 5:30 of the third period UNB's Rob Pearce broke in on the left side and beat Mike Mole over the shoulder for the first crack in this goaltending duel between the AUHC's two top regular season goalies. You could feel the fan tension for the rest of the period. Finally in the dying seconds of the final period X managed to get Mike Mole out of the net on the rush, and with the extra attacker outmanned UNB and left all alone in the slot was X-Men captain Patty Grandmaitre. With just 13.8 seconds to go the puck somehow got to him and Grandmaitre one-timed it to beat Reg Bourcier for the tying goal. In the ensuing bedlam you could see the visibly shocked V-Reds sag, and when time expired UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall hustled his team off the bench to their dressing room to regroup. After referee Bobby Best double-checked the overtime rules with the scorekeeper, he left the ice to retrieve<