Huskies control Hockey Aigles Bleus

MONCTON -- The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (3-24-2=8pts, 7th position) gave up 54 shots on goal and three unanswered goals as the Saint Mary's University Huskies (18-9-2=38pts, 3rd position), were 5-1 winners on Thursday evening at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena, in an Atlantic University Sport men's hockey game.

Thomas Stavert and Alex Cord, in the first period, Jake Coughler and Aaron Berisha, the last on the power play in the second and Anthony Repaci, in the third, got the markers for the visitors. Jean-François Plante (Marc-Anthony Therrien) scored the lone Blue and Gold goal, on a hard wrist shot in the first period.

Moncton goaltender Brandon Thibeau, Subway player of the game, faced 54 shots during the game, 18, 17 and 19 per the three periods. He had a busy evening with numerous key saves.  Eric Brassard saw 31 shots for the winners, including 12 in the first period.

The game was exciting with open play up and down, with 30 shots in the first period. Moncton was 0 for 2 on the power play and the Huskies, 1 for 4.

There was too much intensity for us and several players abandoned,'' stated Moncton coach Judes Vallée. ''We were able to compete with them for the first period, but we could not maintain our pace for the next two periods. Our goaltender (Thibeau) did an outstanding job with over 50 shots. We missed too many chances in the first, but that is our story."

According to rookie forward Vincent Deslauriers, ''we started the game well, but their second goal hurt us, we missed our chances and that killed us. It is frustrating when we miss like that, but we cannot think too much about it. Our goal gave us a boost, but we need to score more often to help our team."

The Huskies finish their regular season Friday night in Wolfville vs the Axemen.  Moncton will end regular season play at home on Saturday as they host Acadia University Axemen, at 7 p.m. at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena. Players with four-years of play with the team will be honored in a ceremony before the game. They Include Jean-François Plante, Danick Emond, Mitchell Robillard, Brandon Thibeau, Joël Blanchard and Victor Beaulac.

UdeM Communications