It was a big weekend for the #4 ranked UNB Varsity Reds, back at home in Fredericton. In a replay of the University Cup final, the #2 ranked St.FX X-Men were the visitor to the Aitken University Centre. As was the case the previous week, the V-Reds outplayed the X-Men and this time they got the win. UNB cruised through the first two periods with 4 goals on 19 shots to X's 10 shots for no goals. However, play disintegrated in the third period. At the 2:30 mark X's Alan Dwyer exacted some premeditated payback on UNB's Charles Perry behind the play and earned a major and match penalty for charging, for 15 penalty minutes in total. Perry, of course, was the defenceman who the previous week who caught X's Blake Robson with his head down and knocked him out cold and out of the lineup with a bone-crushing open-ice hit. UNB's popgun power play came up empty through the five minute advantage.
Beginning at 8:40 it was the V-Reds turn to play undisciplined hockey. Fredericton's Rob Pearce took a double-minor for butt-ending, and then UNB took two straight penalties while short-handed, giving the X-Men almost four minutes of five on three play. At 11:07 X's Omar Ennafatti fired a blast from the point, beating goaltender Reg Bourcier and breaking UNB's flawless penalty killing streak from the start of the season. Then with just under five minutes to go, events took a Hallowe'en style twist. As UNB's Ryan Mockler headed to the penalty box after getting tied up with X's Wes Jarvis, there was a skirmish between UNB's Stacey Smallman and the X-Men bench, including one of the X trainers reaching out and grabbing onto Smallman. Several players got sent to their dressing rooms after the fracas, while Smallman and Jarvis chirped at each other all the way to their respective penalty boxes. Their mutual animosity continued with Jarvis chucking at least one water bottle at Smallman, who in turn pounded on the glass separating them until the metal stanchion broke and the glass came crashing down. The players were finally separated and Smallman with his torn jersey skated across the ice to his dressing room to the cheers of the riled-ed up fans. After the excitement, and ejections, both teams settled down and played out the final minutes without incident.
The next night was the Dalhousie Tigers' turn to visit Fredericton. Unlike the previous week when they outplayed UNB but didn't win, this night was all V-Reds. Entering the second period up 3-1, UNB went on to outshoot Dal 14-3 and score two more goals (one of them short-handed by Troy Stonier) in the twenty minute frame breaking the Tigers back. It didn't help that Tiger captain Brad Pierce, a stalwart on defence, had to leave the game in the first period with a knee injury. In the third period UNB scored another goal, and then got into penalty trouble late in the third which gave the Tigers a chance to salvage some pride with a power play goal for a 6-2 final score, but no points for the weekend.
Looking around the conference, there was one mid-week contest. The St. Mary's Huskies traveled to Antigonish and earned two points for their effort Wednesday evening. SMU outshot X every period for a final tally 31 to 18 and a 2-1 margin in goals for the win.
Friday night in Charlottetown UPEI goaltender Paul Drew faced 32 shots and got his second consecutive shutout with a 5-0 win over the Dal Tigers. The skate was on the other foot Saturday as St.FX rebounded from their three game losing streak as X's Mike Mole stopped all 35 Panther shots to earn the shutout as the X-Men scored a power play goal in each period for the 3-0 win.
Moncton ended their three game winless streak with a come from behind 4-3 over the St. Mary's Huskies in Halifax on Saturday. J.F. LaPlante got the winner for UdeM. The previous evening, Acadia came from behind for the second week in a row against les Aigles Bleus, this time with the Axemen's Kevin Baker scoring the tying go