THUNDER BAY, Ont. (CIS) - The No.4-seeded New Brunswick Varsity Reds joined Western Ontario in the gold-medal final of the 2009 CIS men's hockey championship with a 3-1 win over tournament host Lakehead, Saturday night, at Fort William Gardens.
Cavendish University Cup website: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/m_hockey/2009
The AUS finalist V-Reds, who beat top-ranked Alberta 6-3 in their first outing of the tourney Thursday night, finished atop the Pool-A standings with a 2-0 record. UNB will play for CIS gold Sunday at 2 p.m. (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada) against the No. 3 Mustangs, who secured first place in Pool B earlier on Saturday with a spectacular 7-2 victory over Saint Mary's.
The V-Reds are the first team since UQTR in 2003 to reach the national final for a third straight year. The perennial powerhouse from Fredericton lost 3-2 to Alberta in the 2008 title match and edged Moncton 3-2 in overtime two years ago.
UNB and Western have met only once in the past at the University Cup championship, in 2000, with the V-Reds prevailing 3-2 in overtime in round-robin action.
"Obviously, we're happy with the result," said Gardiner MacDougall, in his ninth season as head coach of the V-Reds. "It was a hard-fought game against a very worthy opponent, and it was a great atmosphere in here."
"We scored some key goals tonight. The one at the end of the first period was big, it gave us a lift."
A power-play marker by senior defenceman David Bowman of St. Catharines, Ont., with 14 seconds left in the opening frame stood as the only goal of the contest until forward Kyle Bailey of Ponoka, Alta., scored the eventual game-winner at 3:12 of the third stanza.
Bailey, who was named UNB's player of the match, had been out of the penalty box for seven seconds when he blasted a shot from the top of the left circle past senior goaltender Chris Whitley of Oshawa, Ont.
"I thought we worked hard enough, I thought we had enough chances. For the second straight night, we just didn't have a great deal of luck around the net," said second-year Lakehead bench boss Don McKee. "The turning point of the game was when we hit the cross-bar on the power play, that was a great shot from McPherson."
Forward Brock McPherson of Brampton, Ont., narrowly tied the contest midway through the middle period when he wired a wrister off the cross bar.
In a desperation move, McKee pulled Whitley for a sixth attacker with 5:52 remaining in regulation as the T-Wolves were about to go on the power play. The strategy backfired 23 seconds later when fifth-year rearguard Dustin Friesen of Waldheim, Sask., made it 3-0 with a short-handed empty-netter.
Lakehead defenceman Andy Zulyniak of Winnipeg broke Travis Fullerton's shutout bid with 26 seconds left on the clock.
It was the Wolves first tally of the tourney against a goaltender. The hosts had scored in an empty net in a 2-1 loss to Alberta on Saturday.
Fullerton of Riverview, Ont., earned the win following a 30-save performance.
Whitley stopped 37 shots and, for the second straight night, was named his team's MVP in a losing cause.
GAME NOTES: The Varsity Reds had edged the Wolves 4-3 in round-robin action in 2003 in the only previous meeting between the two teams at the CIS championship? UNB will become the seventh team in history to appear in three (or more) consecutive University Cup finals? The last team to do so was the UQTR Patriotes who won the title in 2001, settled for silver in 2002 and won again in 2003? In six previous gold-medal final appearances, the V-Reds lost 4-3 to Guelph in 1997, beat Acadia 6-3 in 1998, lost 5-4 to Alberta in double overtime in 2000, lost 3-2 to StFX in 2 OT in 2004, edged Moncton 3-2 in OT in 2007 and were defeated 3-2 by Alberta in 2008? The last national final between a squad from the Atlantic and an Ontario-based team took place in 1997 when Guelph defeated UNB 4-3?
SCORING SUMMARY
No. 4 UNB 3, No. 6 Lakehead 1
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING:
1. UNB David Bowman (1) (Dustin Friesen) 19:46 PP
PENALTIES:
Ryan Baird (LAK) hooking, 3:02;
Aaron Alphonso (LAK) holding, 9:56;
Mark Soares (LAK) holding, 19:08.
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING:
No scoring.
PENALTIES:
Scott Dobben (LAK) hooking, 0:22;
Chris Hodgson (UNB) hooking, 4:51;
Robert Pearce (UNB) hooking, 7:14;
Kris Hogg (LAK) roughing, 7:43;
Jonathon Harty (UNB) cross-checking, 7:43;
Kevin Henderson (UNB) hooking, 9:18.
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING:
2. UNB Kyle Bailey (1) (Alex Aldred, Kevin Henderson) 3:12
3. UNB Dustin Friesen (1) (Kyle Bailey, John Scott Dickson) 14:31 SH / EN
4. LAK Andy Zulyniak (1) (Andrew Brown) 19:34 PP
PENALTIES:
Kyle Bailey (UNB) holding, 1:05;
Dan Speer (LAK) roughing, 6:51;
Robert Pearce (UNB) interference, 8:55;
Ryan Seymour (UNB) hooking, 18:06;
Bench (UNB - coach Gardiner MacDougall) failure to hold bench, 20:00;
Bench (LAK - coach Don McKee) failure to hold bench, 20:00.
GOALS (by period)
UNB: 1-0-2:3
LAK: 0-0-1:1
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
UNB: 17-14-9:40
LAK: 7-10-14:31
POWER PLAY:
UNB: 1-5
LAK: 1-7
GOALTENDERS
UNB - Travis Fullerton (W, 2-0, 31 shots, 30 saves, 1 GA, 60:00)
LAK - Chris Whitley (L, 0-2, 39 shots, 37 saves, 2 GA, 59:37)
LAK - Empty net (1 shot, 1 GA, 0:23)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
UNB: Kyle Bailey
LAK: Chris Whitley
REFEREE: Mark Hulshof
LINESMEN: Nigel Black, Matt Traub
ATTENDANCE: 2,740
SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times Eastern)
Pool A
1. Alberta
4. UNB
6. Lakehead
Pool B
2. Saint Mary's
3. Western Ontario
5. McGill
Thursday, March 26
Pool B #1: Saint Mary's 4, McGill 1
Pool A #1: UNB 6, Alberta 3
Friday, March 27
Pool B #2: McGill 4, Western 3
Pool A #2: Alberta 2, Lakehead 1
Saturday, March 28
Pool B #3: Western 7, Saint Mary's 2
Pool A #3: UNB 3, Lakehead 1
Sunday, March 29
14:00 Final: No. 3 Western vs. No. 4 UNB (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
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