Day 3 of the Bell Canada Varsity Cup opened with a rousing high-speed game between the No. 2 UNB Varsity Reds and Canada West No. 2 Calgary Dinos that saw the Dinos defeat the V-Reds 3-1 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. The Dinos controlled the game for the first two periods with speed and aggressive checking against a tired-looking Reds squad while UNB gave a better account of themselves in the final stanza. Calgary was led by freshman Richard Mueller with a goal and an assist and stellar goaltending from Donald Choukalos. Other Calgary markers came from Jordan Walker and Wes Reid. The Reds tally came from Craig Mahon.
The Dinos victory sets up an interesting scenario for tomorrow's final. Calgary and UNB both have 2-1 tourney records. Although UNB lost today's game, they qualify for tomorrow's title game based on the tourney tie breaking formula (goals for/goals for + goals against). Calgary will have to wait for the result of the Lakehead/York game. Lakehead will have to win to have a tying 2-1 record. Then they will have to build an 8-0 lead, and then score 2 goals for every goal York scores after that; a big challenge for the Thunderwolves in the night game. If Lakehead can achieve this goal, they will knock Calgary out of the other spot in the title game.
Calgary came out flying, skating hard, beating the V-Reds to the puck, and forechecking the speedy Reds constantly. The Dinos jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead whenWes Reid knocked the puck into an empty V-Reds goal at 2:23. UNB goalie Reg Bourcier was out of position after clearing the puck around the boards and Calgary's Pat Tetley intercepted it, passed it to Philiph Barski, who then fed Reid all alone in front of the net. Calgary kept up the pressure in the first five minutes, keeping the speedy Reds penned in their own zone. Action kept up fast and furious as both teams pushed for the advantage.
The Reds came close when Calgary goalie Donald Choukalos mishandled the puck and it trickled across the Dinos crease during a UNB powerplay. Then Calgary's Richard Mueller just missed with a low blast that almost fooled Bourcier. The Dinos again put on some pressure, buzzing the UNB goal. Then, UNB again went on the powerplay and Choukalos came up with a nice stop off a point blast from Jason Hegberg. Back at full strength, Calgary came close when Jeff Yopyk missed an empty net with a diving swipe at the puck. UNB's Ryan Lindsay picked up a loose puck at center ice and broke in alone on Choukalos but the Dinos goalie blocked Lindsay's shot with his shoulder. Calgary then went on the 5-on-3 powerplay and Richard Mueller made no mistake, dropping Bourcier with a deke and blasting the shot high over the goaltender's left shoulder. Bourcier then made a nice save off the Dinos Barski who broke in all alone and fired a quick backhander. UNB then went on the powerplay and Dinos goaltender made a good save off a point blast by Kyle Werner, then Choukalos quickly dived to stopp the rebound. Shots on goal were 16-10 for the Dinos.
Calgary's Jordan Walker made it 3-0 at 1:27 when he picked up a loose puck in front of the UNB goal and flipped it high over Bourcier's shoulder. The assist went to Mueller. Calgary then went on a series of powerplay advantages and buzzed the UNB goal but couldn't find the back of the net. UNB's Ryan Mockler had a good chance at the 10:00 mark when he found himself all alone in the slot, but her fired the puck just wide of the Dino's goal. UNBreplaced Bourcier in goalwith Andy LeBlanc.
UNB then went on the powerplay and had some decent shots but couldn't get the puck past Choukalos in the Calgary net. Calgary's Richard Mueller's stellar penalty kill play forced a steal and he broke in alone on LeBlanc and forced to UNB goalie to come up with a tough first save of the game. The Reds Craig Mahon promptly crunched Mueller into the boards at centre ice at the 17:00 mark. C