Tigers fall to REDS 7-3

Recap by Andy Campbell, UNB Athletics

(FREDERICTON, NB) Macauley Carson (Midhurst, ON) and Jason Willms (Kitchener, ON) each scored twice as the UNB REDS beat the Dalhousie Tigers 7-3 in Atlantic University Sport men's hockey action Saturday afternoon, at UNB's Aitken Centre. 

The home team was first on the scoreboard. 

At 7:31 of the opening period, with the REDS working 6-on-5 because of a delayed penalty call, Carson tipped a Cody Morgan (Gilford, ON) shot past Tigers starting goalie Alexander MacDonald (Truro, NS). 

Two minutes and 14 seconds later Carson scored again, beating MacDonald short side. 

"I just happened to be the one to get two at the start and it felt good," said Carson, named Tim Horton's Player of the Game. 

Barret Kirwin (Barrie, ON) cut UNB's lead to a single goal just past the 15-minute mark, scoring as the Tigers worked with a two-man advantage. 

But before the period was over the REDS added two more, off the sticks of Willms and Kale McCallum (Rothesay, NB) to take a 4-1 lead into the first intermission. 

"We've been having good starts and good first few minutes," said Carson. "It's about ensuring you keep your foot on the gas and not getting into bad habits." 

Robbie Forbes (Oakville, ON) came on in relief of MacDonald in the Dal net to start the second period, but that did little to slow the REDS. 

About four minutes in, Willms added his second of the game before Ethan O'Rourke (Prince George, BC) scored for Dal. 

With 1:15 left in the second, Kade Landry (Gowanstown, ON) scored to give UNB a 6-2 lead after two periods. 

Dal's Chris McQuaid (Charlottetown, PE) scored with 19 seconds left in the game to make it 6-3, but Michael Petizian (Mississauga, ON) restored UNB's four-goal lead ten seconds later for the 7-3 final. 

"We're moving in the right direction, towards beating a team like that," said Forbes. "They obviously have a good team, a lot of skilled players, but I think we'll be able to outwork them eventually." 

Adam McCormick (Waterville, NB) and Morgan each had two assists for UNB while Griffen Outhouse (Williams Lake, BC) made 23 saves on 26 Dal shots for his ninth win of the season. 

With the victory, the REDS improve to 20-0-0-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) and remain atop the AUS standings. 

"We don't really think about it too much, but it's good for the confidence when you're getting wins like this," said Carson. "We just want to have a good regular season and go into playoffs and have good playoffs. It's all about hoisting the University Cup at the end. That's our goal, but obviously we're off to a good start and riding a lot of confidence right now." 

The Tigers are now 5-13-2-0 and sit in seventh place in the conference standings. 

Up next, the Tigers host the STFX X-Men on Wednesday night. Game time is 7:00pm. 

The REDS go on the road Friday, visiting Saint Mary's for a 7:00pm start.