This was a big week in the Atlantic University Hockey Conference with all eight teams playing three games each. The story of the week was the success of the New Brunswick schools, with St. Thomas University winning three in a row on the road to take a share of first place, Universit de Moncton taking two of three to maintain a share of first, and the University of New Brunswick winning three in a row to take sole possession of third place with a game in hand on the two teams ahead of them.
Wednesday's # 6 ranked UNB at # 2 ranked UdeM contest delivered as promised, with the Varsity Reds surprising les Aigles Bleus in their own rink by dominating territorial play when the teams were even strength. This was the quickest and highest tempo game I've seen so far this season. There was no scoring in the first period, and just over four minutes into the second period UdeM forward Mathieu Btournay (St-Chrysostome, QU) directed a puck into the net with his skate that was allowed to count after much debate. UNB replied at 11:35 and 14:45 with powerplay goals to take the lead until 40 seconds before the end of the period Sebastien Strozynski (Ile Perrt, QU), on the powerplay, tied it up on a breakaway due to a bad UNB line change that allowed Moncton goaltender Eric LaFrance (Hull, QU) to pass the puck all the way up the open left side of the ice to the open man. The third period was just about all UNB, with UNB's Rob Hennigar (Jordan, ON) completing the two-on-one with Darryl Boyce (Summerside, PE) at 8:03. Five minutes later it was Boyce scoring while the teams were four-on-four. At the 15 minute mark Strozynski interrupted the flow with another powerplay tally but the Varsity Reds resumed the pressure and Colin Sinclair (Brooks, AB) and Rob Pearce (Fredericton, NB) scored similar goals out-muscling the defence while going hard to the net at 17:27 and 18:50. Moncton scored a late goal with 17 seconds left but the outcome was a foregone conclusion as UNB won 6-4, ending Moncton's three game win streak.
Also on Wednesday, # 10 ranked St. Thomas blanked the University of Prince Edward Island 4-0, thanks considerably to two powerplay goals by captain Kyle McAllister (Cornwall, ON) and the strong performance of Aaron Molnar (Dorchester, ON) in nets, who made 33 saves. In Halifax, the Acadia Axemen got another win in the battle for the bottom of the standings as they defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 6-3 while out-shooting the home team 53-29. In Antigonish, the Saint Mary's Huskies forced overtime and then Marc Rancourt (Gloucester, ON) scored at 3:36 of extra time to defeat # 7 ranked St. Francis Xavier X-Men 3-2.
Moving on to Friday, UNB opened their four game home stand at the Aitken University Centre against the struggling Dalhousie Tigers. UNB veteran defenceman Jesse Ferguson (Langley, BC) scored just twenty seconds in, and when Jean-Michel Boisvert (Boucherville, QU), just back from a three game suspension, made it two-zip at 3:15 Dal coach Fabian Joseph called time-out to settle down the Tigers. The strategy appeared to work as the Tigers went two for two on the powerplay with rookie Jeff Larsh (Bowmanville, ON) getting both goals from in close, with UNB's Colin Sinclair getting his own powerplay marker in the period. The wheels fell off for the Tigers in the second period as UNB continually took advantage of gaps in the Dal team defence to notch three even strength goals by John Scott Dickson (Mississauga, ON), Darryl Boyce and Boisvert. In third period UNB continued to pour it on as defenceman David Bowman (St. Catherines, ON) scored from a scrum and Brad Efthimiou (Mississauga, ON) capped off the scoring with a perfect two-on-one with Rob Hennigar, who had four assists and a goal on the night. UNB outshot Dal 43-17, which gives a fair representation of the play.
It was a high scoring affair in Moncton, where les Aigles Bleus scored three straight first period goals against the visiting X-Men, only to see