(FREDERICTON, NB) Dylan Willick hadn't scored a hat-trick in a while.
"I forgot what that felt like," said Willick, following a three goal effort in the Varsity Reds 4-0 win over the Dalhousie Tigers.
"It worked out well for the guys, in a big win. It's a great way to start the second half."
According to his mother's Twitter account, Willick hadn't scored three goals in a game since his days in major midget.
Willick opened the scoring at 6:47 of the first period. He scored again six minutes into the second.
The former Kamloops Blazer completed the hat-trick with a short-handed goal just over a minute later, chasing Tigers' starting goalie Corbin Boes from the net.
"Willy brings such a consistent effort every night, it's nice to see him get rewarded," said Varsity Reds head coach Gardiner MacDougall.
Rob Mignardi also scored for UNB, while Philippe Halley and Alex Wall each recorded two assists.
"It's never an easy night against them (Dal)," said Willick. "Sometimes the scoreboard doesn't always show it, but we had to really work for this one."
The Tigers appeared to be able to skate with UNB in the early going, even after the opening goal. But, coach Chris Donnelly says there was a let-down… one his team couldn't recover from. "We gave up some bad goals, a 2-on-0 on a power-play is just not something that you aspire to do," said Donnelly. "We had our chances to score as well, a couple of point-blankers, a couple of quick breaks that we didn't capitalize on that could've made the game a little closer."
Alex Dubeau stopped all 23 shots he faced in the UNB net.
"Just the overall win was nice to have tonight," said the game's second star. "Having good games and getting shut-outs, as a goalie, you like it, you love it, but the main aspect is winning and I'm just happy we got the win."
Willick and Dubeau echoed a similar sentiment. Both said they'd celebrate the team's win and their contributions to it until midnight… then they'd put it behind them and focus on the next game.
With the win, UNB improves to 11-3-2, good for third place in the Atlantic University Sport standings.
The Varsity Reds welcome the second place StFX X-Men to the Aitken Centre, , while the Tigers head to UPEI on Saturday night. Game time is 7PM.