REDS defeat Huskies 5-2 to take lead in AUS semifinal

FREDERICTON, NB - The UNB REDS scored a 5-2 win over the Saint Mary's Huskies on Saturday night at the Aitken Centre in Fredericton, taking a commanding two-games-to-none lead in their best of five Atlantic University Sport men's hockey semi-final series.

Jason Willms (Kitchener, ON) and Kade Landry (Gowanstown, ON) each had a pair of assists to lead the REDS. Landry was named the Tim Horton's Player of the Game.

"This time of year, the only thing that matters is finding a way to win," said Landry. "It wasn't a complete effort, but there was flashes throughout the 60 minutes. Good teams find a way to win and that's what we did tonight."

The home team opened the scoring at the 4:55 mark of the first period.

AUS MVP Austen Keating (Guelph, ON) fed a pretty pass across the slot for Brady Gilmour (Grafton, ON) who fired a one-timer past Huskies' goalie Jeremy Helvig (Kingston, ON) for the only goal of the opening period.

In the second, just 2:49 in, Mike Petizian (Mississauga, ON) gave UNB a 2-0 lead, but the Huskies were quick to respond.

HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��

Bradey Johnson sets up Cedric Ralph on the powerplay for the Huskies goal! Saint Mary's trails 2-1 midway through the second period.

�� C. Ralph (1)
�� B. Johnson
�� D. Busby pic.twitter.com/LHvB69xQZm

— Saint Mary's Huskies (@SMUHuskies) February 25, 2024

Goals by Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) and Ben Boyd (Dartmouth, NS) tied the game 2-2 mid-way through the second.

HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��

Ben Boyd scores for the second straight night! Huskies tie it up 2-2 in the second period.

�� B. Boyd (2) pic.twitter.com/BHjzv4TGgM

— Saint Mary's Huskies (@SMUHuskies) February 25, 2024

But shortly after SMU had tied the score, Kale McCallum (Rothesay, NB) restored UNB's lead with a powerplay goal.

"Our powerplay has been great all year and they got one for us and it was huge," said Landry. "We didn't look back after that."

A short time later, Colton Kammerer (Brooklin, ON) doubled the REDS lead with a well-placed shot from the top of the slot.

"It's a series of momentum and thankfully the sweet lady came back to our side, because they had it for a time," said REDS' head coach Gardiner MacDougall. "Playoffs are all about getting that lead."

"It leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth, but that's playoff hockey," said Huskies' defenceman Jaxon Bellamy (Hampton, NB).

UNB led 4-2 after two periods.

REDS' defenceman Nico Savoie (Dieppe, NB) scored the only goal of the third period, into an empty Saint Mary's net with just 54 seconds to play for the 5-2 victory.

Griffen Outhouse (Williams Lake, BC) made 24 saves for the win while Helvig took the loss.

Game three is scheduled for Tuesday night at Saint Mary's Dauphinee Centre, in Halifax. Game time is 7:00pm. GET TICKETS

"We have to make sure we have short-term memory," said Bellamy. "Forget what happened, move on, learn from our mistakes and make sure we don't keep it in our heads. Going into Tuesday's game, we've got to make sure we know what we did wrong and know what we did right."

RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics