(HALIFAX, N.S.) - MacAulay and Bloodoff made it happen early in double overtime Saturday night to put the Saint Mary's Huskies one win away from reaching the AUS Championship for the second straight season with a 2-1 victory over the UNB Varsity Reds.
In typical fashion, Lucas Bloodoff drove hard to the net. As he usually does, Stephen MacAulay made a skilful move to find his captain with a pass.
With Bloodoff racing down the left side on a 2-on-2, MacAulay feathered him a pass but Bloodoff's shot was deflected by a defender towards the side of the net. Undeterred, Bloodoff quickly gathered the puck and fired a bank shot off goaltender Charles Lavigne that landed in the back of the net for the winner at 3:32 of the second overtime period.
It was MacAulay who was able to tie the game at 1-1 early in the second period. At 0:28, the first-year forward scored his second goal of the series when he snapped a shot from the high slot that was mishandled by Lavigne leaving a juicy rebound that MacAulay promptly deposited into the back of the net.
Anthony Peters was stellar again for the Huskies. He stopped 42 shots while his counterpart Lavigne made 28 saves. Peters has been heavily relied upon this series which already saw him practically steal Game 1 with a brilliant 50-save performance.
His performance Saturday was no different.
At 14:44 of the first period, Cam Critchlow stole the puck from defenceman Alex Cord behind the Saint Mary's net and then found a streaking Philip Halley but Peters made a reflex save with his right pad to keep the game scoreless.
Around the 4:00 mark of the third period, Peters came up big again. While killing a penalty, he made a sprawling glove save on Cam Braes who wired a hard shot after receiving a tape-to-tape cross-ice pass.
The V-Reds were able to get one past Peters. At 14:19 of the first period they took the lead on a goal by Dylan Willick. The UNB forward appeared to have knocked the puck in with a high stick leading the referees and linesmen to confer with one another, but after a brief meeting they determined Willick had scored a clean goal.
The Huskies penalty killers played a key role in the victory as they were called upon to kill three consecutive third period penalties, including 0:49 of 5-on-3 time.
The Huskies now lead the best 3-of-5 series 2-1 which may be surprising to some since Saint Mary's was unable to beat the top-seeded V-Reds once in four regular season matchups. Game 4 is set for Sunday at the Halifax Forum with a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Source: Brian Mosher for Saint Mary's Sports Information