(FREDERICTON, N.B.) - Subway Player of the Game Eric Faille took advantage of his speed to score two goals and lead the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus to a 5-1 win over the St. Thomas University Tommies in an Atlantic University Sport men's hockey game Saturday evening at the Grant Harvey Centre in Fredericton.
The win combined with the overtime loss by the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers (11-7-5), enabled the Aigles (13-8-0) to remain in sole possession of third spot in the standings with seven games left in the schedule. The Tommies (5-15-2) sit in seventh place in the AUS standings. Goaltender Jonathan Connely won a fifth game this season and also collected an assist.
Faille (from Simon Jodoin and Alex Noël) scored the first goal on a speedy breakaway when he shot the puck on the ice between opposite keeper Jonathan Groenheyed's pads in the opening period.
Jean-Marc Léger (from Luc Williams) made it 2-0 with the winning goal at 5:02 of the middle stanza, his first of the season. Faille (from Jonathan Connely) repeated his efforts of the first two minutes later to put the score at 3-0 on another breakaway.
Simon Lacroix (from Faille and Steve Lebel), on the power-play, made it 4-0 before the end of the period.
Alex Saulnier (from Allain Saulnier and Pierre Durepos), the Shédiac-Cap-Pelé trio, on the power-play, completed the scoring in the third.
Yuri Cheremetiev ruined the shutout attempt by Jonathan Connely at the beginning of the third. Moncton dominated 34-21 on shots on goal, including a 15-6 advantage in the second.
"We did have our focus on this game tonight," said Eric Faille following the game. "I did use my speed to score tonight and it worked. It was also interesting to see other players score, like Jean-Marc Léger. It is a motivation for us to see them play well. The Tommies have a good team, our offensive worked well tonight and we took the lead that enabled us to have the momentum to win."
"We played much better defensively tonight," said Moncton head coach Serge Bourgeois. "A large number of their shots came from the outside and Jonathan Connely had a number of good saves. Eric Faille used his speed tonight and that was great."
The Aigles will host the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers, Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena, a game rescheduled from last November.
The Tommies next take to the ice Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. when they visit the Dalhousie Tigers in Halifax.
Source: Moncton Sports Information