Huskies score five straight goals to defeat Aigles Bleus 5-1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Saint Mary's (17-9-0-0, 17-9-0-0) | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
|
Moncton (11-13-1-1, 11-13-1-1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
The Saint Mary's Huskies scored five unanswered goals, including four in the second period, on their way to defeating the Moncton Aigles Bleus 5-1 on Friday night in Moncton.
It was the Aigles Bleus who got off to a strong start, in front of 480 spectators at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena on the Moncton campus.
Just over eight minutes into the first period, the Aigles Bleus opened the scoring on a scramble play in front of the net finished off by Thomas Cusson (Cowansville, QC).
The lead did not last long at less than two minutes later, Huskies forwards Joel Bishop (St. John's, NL) and Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) broke away on a two-on-one, with Bishop keeping the puck and snapping a shot past Aigles Bleus goaltender Étienne Montpetit (Valleyfield, QC) to tie it up at 1-1.
HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��
— SMU Huskies (@SMUHuskies) February 3, 2023
Joel Bishop keeps it on the two-on-one and snipes a goal to tie the game at 1-1 in the first. @SMUMensHockey
��J. Bishop (5)
��A. Coxhead pic.twitter.com/d9AWVP7tgA
Moncton outshot Saint Mary's 19-6 in the first period, but Huskies goaltender Jeremy Helvig (Kingston, ON) continued his stellar play stopping 18 shots.
The Huskies wasted no time early in the second period, as forward Jacob Durham (Port Perry, ON) scored off a nice feed from Nathan Dunkley (Campbellford, ON), giving the Huskies a 2-1 lead just 41 seconds into the period.
HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��
— SMU Huskies (@SMUHuskies) February 3, 2023
Nathan Dunkley with a great forecheck to set up Jake Durham for his first goal of the season to put @SMUMensHockey up 2-1.
��J. Durham (1)
��N. Dunkley pic.twitter.com/Q5taWmRACA
The Huskies kept the momentum going and scored their third when Bishop fired a puck from behind the net off of Montpetit's leg and into the goal, for his second goal of the night, 10:58 into the second period.
HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��
— SMU Huskies (@SMUHuskies) February 4, 2023
Sometimes you just put the puck on goal and good things happen, just ask Joel Bishop! His second of the night puts @SMUMensHockey up 3-1!
��J. Bishop (6)
��C. Ralph pic.twitter.com/hMnYcbsK4B
Just over five minutes later, the Huskies scored again when Ralph set-up Andrew Coxhead (Bedford, NS) for a one-timer in the slot, his 13th goal of the season.
HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��
— SMU Huskies (@SMUHuskies) February 4, 2023
Four straight unanswered goals for @SMUMensHockey as Andrew Coxhead snipes the one-timer for his 13th goal of the season.
��A. Coxhead (13)
��S. Dunn
��C. Ralph pic.twitter.com/pwPffZ4UO2
The second period scoring barrage was finished off by a powerplay marker from Nathan Dunkley with less than a minute remaining in the period.
HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��
— SMU Huskies (@SMUHuskies) February 4, 2023
The Huskies cap off a dominant second period with a powerplay goal from Nathan Dunkley, extending the @SMUMensHockey lead to 5-1.
��N. Dunkley (8)
��C. Dafonseca
��J. MacPherson pic.twitter.com/auXNMjO9mj
The Aigles Bleus and Huskies defended well and conceded no goals in the third period.
Huskies forward Joel Bishop was named Subway Player of the Game with two goals, while Nathan Dunkley (one goal, one assist), Andrew Coxhead (one goal, one assist) and Cedric Ralph (two assists) also recorded multi-point nights for the Huskies.
Jeremy Helvig stopped 31 shots for the win, while Montpetit turned away 29.
The Huskies fourth straight victory improved their record to 18-9-0 on the season, good for second place in the conference standings. They'll continue their New Brunswick road swing on Saturday, as they visit the U SPORTS #2 ranked UNB REDS, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.
The Aigles Bleus loss dropped their record to 11-14-1-1 on the campaign. They'll be back on home ice on Saturday, welcoming the Acadia Axemen for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Recap by Allan April / SMU Huskies Athletics
