(ANTIGONISH, NS) Austen Keating (Guelph, ON) scored three goals and added an assist as the UNB REDS held off a late push by the STFX X-Men for a 5-3 win, Friday night in Antigonish.
Keating was named the game's first star.
Emmett Sproule (Collingwood, ON) had both of the REDS other goals as UNB extended their season-opening winning streak to 17 games.
Keating scored the game's first goal, on a breakaway, at the 15:00 mark of the opening period.
Sproule's first came in the second period, with the REDS working with a man advantage.
In the third period, with the REDS short-handed, Keating took advantage of a miscue by X-Men goalie Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON), who lost control of the puck behind his net. Keating scooped it up and deposited it into an open goal.
Sproule tipped a Kade Landry (Gowanstown, ON) point shot past Raaymakers about three minutes later to give UNB a 4-0 lead.
With less than five minutes to play, the X-Men scored three times, pulling to within a goal of the REDS before Keating scored an empty net goal at 19:50 of the third period.
With his four-point night, Keating takes over the lead in the Atlantic University Sport men's hockey scoring race. He now has 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 poiints. Matthew Struthers (Milton, ON), of the X-Men, is second with 26 points while UNB's Brady Gilmour (Grafton, ON) is tied for third with 23 points.
The U SPORTS No. 1 ranked REDS, atop the AUS standings, are now 17-0-0-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) while the X-Men third place X-Men are 10-7-1-0.
The REDS will close out the first portion of their 2023-24 AUS schedule on Saturday at Dalhousie. Game time is 7:00pm.
The X-Men resume their AUS schedule on January 5th, 2024, when they visit the REDS and UNB's Aitken Centre.
After Saturday's game, the REDS next action will be a U SPORTS exhibition game, on Saturday, December 30th, when they host the Concordia Stingers. The Stingers are 9-4-2-0 and currently sit third in the OUA's East Division.
STORY BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Bryan Kennedy/for STFX Athletics