Huskies defeat Varsity Reds 3-2

The Saint Mary's University Huskies defeated the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds 3-2 on Saturday Nov. 26 at the Halifax Forum in Halifax NS. The win gives the Huskies an 8-7-1 record good for fourth in the AUS. The Varsity Reds drop to 12-2-2 but still sit at the top of the table, four-points up on the second place StFX X-Men.

Eric Brassard (St Huber,t PQ) was brilliant for the Huskies stopping 29 of the 31 shots he faced. His record is now 7-3 on the season.

Taylor Burke (Halifax, NS) (9), Stephen Gillard (St John',s NL) (1) and Bradley Latour (Barrie, ON) (7) found the back of the net for the Huskies.

Christopher Caissy (Campbellton, NB) (6) and Cam Braes (Shawinigan Lake, BC) (9) were the goal scorers for the Varsity Reds.

Alex Dubeau (Mascouche, QC) made 19 saves on 22 shots for the Varsity Reds. His record falls to 5-2.

The Huskies opened the scoring at the 17:33 mark of the first. After a tie-up on a face-off in the attacking right circle in the Varsity Reds zone Ben Duffy (Lower Sackville NS) jumped in from the left-winger spot to tap the puck back to Calder Brooks (Emerald Park, SK) on the right point, Brooks one-timed a shot on goal that was deflected by Burke up over the glove of Dubeau for the 1-0 goal.

The Varsity Reds answered with the games next two goals. The first one coming 4:37 into the second. Stephen Anderson (Morell, PE) won a puck battle down low in the Huskies zone and moved it to Christopher Clapperton (Cap Espoir, QC) behind the net, Clapperton floated a pass to Caissy in the high slot and Caissy made a great play gloving the puck down to his stick and ripping his shot high blocker side to tie the game 1-1.

The second Varsity Reds goal came at the 7:40 mark of the second. Standing in the defending left corner in his own zone Jordan Murray (, (Quebec City, QC) who picked it up in the middle of the ice just inside the Huskies blue line and went towards the right dot, he laid a drop pass for the trailer Braes who picked it up in the high slot made a move to his forehand and shot back across the grain glove side for the 2-1 Varsity Reds lead.

The Huskies tied it up just over a minute later at the 8:51 mark. Playing four-on-four Bronson Beaton (Springhill, NS) and Hunter Garlent (Thorold, ON) worked the cycle game in behind the Varsity Reds net, Garlent fed it back to Gillard on the left-point he walked the line for a couple steps and wired a clapper off the post glove side to tie the game 2-2.

 The game-winner came at the 16:34 mark of the second. Burke was in control of the puck behind the net and sent it to Duffy in the attacking left corner, he put a centring feed onto the tape of Latour cutting through the low slot Latour turned and fired low blocker side for the 3-2 Huskies lead. The goal came just after two Varsity Reds players who had been serving simultaneous penalties had gotten back into the play.

The Varsity Reds outshot the Huskies 11 to five in the third and 31 to 22 overall.

Up next:

The Huskies will travel to play the UPEI Panthers in Charlottetown PE on Thursday December 1 while the Varsity Reds will be waiting to host the Huskies on Friday December 2 in Fredericton NB.

By Cam Honey-Webb

Photo Nick Pearce