Like all sports, hockey is a funny game sometimes. Case in point: the UNB Varsity Reds lost the game they should have won against St.F.X 3-1 in Antigonish on Friday, and then they came back on Saturday in Halifax and won a 3-1 game against the Dalhousie Tigers that they should have lost.
In Antigonish the X-Men had the University Cup presentation for their home fans and raised their first CIS hockey banner. Then the patiently waiting V-Reds, who of course were the other team in that double-overtime win back in March, came out flying and took the play to the X-Men all night. Not that is seemed to matter. Mike Mole stood on his head just as he did at Nationals, and only Troy Stonier beat him on a highlight reel breakaway play. UNB outshot the X-Men 36-18 for the game, but it was X getting the empty netter for the 3-1 win.
Speaking of highlights, X-Men overtime hero Blake Robson was on the receiving end of a Craig Perry hit that Don Cherry should hurry and add to his video collection. Coming out of the X zone up the left side Robson took a blind pass into his skates. By the time he looked up, there was Perry who had him lined up and then held up. It didn't matter. Robson seemed to lunge towards Perry and ended up out cold flat out on his back for the experience. You don't like to see someone hurt, but boy what a hit! Perry received a major and a game misconduct for a check to the head, which UNB is planning to appeal. Their argument is along the lines that how do you avoid hitting the guy in the head when his head is barely at your chest level and he's coming right at you?
One can only wonder what would have happened if UNB's Perry, arguably the best body checker in the conference, hadn't held up on the hit ...
The next night it was UNB's Reg Bourcier who put on a show, only letting one of Dal's 44 shots get by him. This was the best I've seen Dal play this season, and they deserved a better fate, especially since UNB took the majority of the penalties and the Tigers' power play was foiled at every attempt. Defenceman Brad Pierce, the new Dal captain, was a standout in stopping numerous V-Red odd man rushes. But luck was totally in UNB's favour this night, as was shown at the 19:49 mark of the third when with the Tigers on the powerplay and the Dal net empty for another attacker, UNB captain Craig Mahon's clearing bank shot off the glass from the beleaguered UNB zone took a fortuitous bounce into the Dal zone and then trickled into the empty net to secure the 3-1 win.
The UPEI Panthers, Acadia Axemen and St. Mary's Huskies all had three-point road weekends. After tying Dal 4-4 on Friday is a physical game, rookie Panther goalie Paul Drew had his first (of which there may be many more) shutout on Saturday, beating the X-Men 3-0. As for the Axemen, they scored a goal with 14 seconds left to secure a comeback 5-4 win against les Aigles Bleus in Moncton on Friday. This apparently precipitated rough stuff and some fights as the game ended. Then on Saturday, Acadia came back again in a game against the STU Tommies in Fredericton and scored the tying goal with 4.5 seconds left in regulation to earn the 5-5 tie.
As for SMU, on Friday against STU they scored 3 unanswered goals in the third period on Friday to get the 6-3 win. On Saturday, they traveled to Moncton and repeated the trick, scoring 2 third-period goals to force the 2-2 tie with les Aigles Bleus.
As for World Series predictions, just remember that the Maritimes has long been part of Red Sox Nation so even this jaded Expos fan is enjoying the fun.