FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK – The University of New Brunswick men's hockey team scored four third-period goals to defeat Union College, 8-3, in the championship game of the Pete Kelly Cup Sunday afternoon at the Aitken Centre.
John Simpson (Boxborough, Mass.) had a goal and an assist for the Dutchmen, and was named the Summit Dodge Player of the Game. Union finished the exhibition weekend trip with a 2-1 record.
Brendan Milnamow (Wilton, Conn.) was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Jason Walters (Renfrew, Ontario) scooped up the puck in the neutral zone after it bounced out of a scrum and carried it into the UNB zone on the right. Walters flipped a backhand shot across the ice before it bounced off the left post and behind Varsity Reds' netminder Michael Ouzas for a 1-0 lead at 8:14.
New Brunswick scored three straight goals in the first half of the second period to take a 3-1 lead, but Union rallied back before the teams traded goals for a 4-3 Varsity Reds lead at the end of the middle stanza.
Alex Aldred banged in a rebound from Robert Pearce below the left circle to tie the game just 1:04 into the frame before Scott Dickson one-timed a pass from behind the net at 5:55 to take the lead. Rob Hennigar picked up a long pass from Dustin Friesen as he was exiting the penalty box and skated it in on the right before firing from the netside. Union goaltender
Corey Milan (Great Barrington, Mass.) made the save and kept the rebound close, but Hennigar jammed the puck back toward the freshmen. Milan went down to stop the puck, but the rebound came loose again at the right corner where Hennigar collected it and paused before flipping it into the upper right corner for a 3-1 lead at 10:44.
Simpson tipped in a
Lane Caffaro (Slave Lake, Alberta) shot less than a minute later to bring the Dutchmen back within one.
Justin Pallos (Glastonbury, Conn.) sent the puck up the right boards out of the corner to Caffaro at the right point. Caffaro wound up for the shot that bounced off of Simpson's stick in the slot at 11:39.
New Brunswick reclaimed a two-goal lead for less than a minute as Hunter Tremblay placed his shot with two defensemen all over him at 14:31, but
Mike Schreiber (Sherwood Park, Alberta) brought Union back within one at 15:08.
Simpson won a draw in the Union zone back to
Brock Matheson (Gananoque, Ontario), who slid the puck to Schrieber as he went just over the blue line. Schreiber carried it all the way into the New Brunswick zone before splitting the defense and slipping his shot between Ouzas' legs.
New Brunswick scored four unanswered goals in the third period, first at 4:23 after a Union defensive miscue that Lachlan MacIntosh collected and went two-on-one with Kyle Bailey. MacIntosh slid the puck across the crease to Bailey who knocked it in as he was falling between the right circle and goal line.
Tremblay's low wrister at 8:38 was saved by Milan, but the goaltender lost control of the puck and could not reach back in time to keep it from dribbling over the goal line. Pearce knocked in a rebound that was blocked in front of Milan at 16:34 before Justin Decosta potted a power-play score with less than two minutes left in the game.
Milan finished with 30 saves in the loss while Ouzas made 24 saves to earn the win.
Union returns to NCAA action next weekend when they host UConn Friday, January 4 at 7 p.m. The Dutchmen travel to Army the following evening for a 7 p.m. contest at Tate Rink.
