Courtesy of host organizing committee / Photo credit Josh Schaefer
SASKATOON (CIS) – The top-seeded University of Alberta
Golden Bears got off to a strong start scoring three first period
goals en route to a 3-2 win over the No. 6 Carleton Ravens in the
CIS men’s hockey championship opener at Credit Union
Centre.
With the win the Golden Bears (1-0) take an early lead in Pool A
and will face the McGill Redmen Saturday at 2 p.m. Saskatchewan
Time, live on Sportsnet 360 and on the web at www.cis-sic.tv.
Carleton (0-1), which is making its first-ever University Cup
appearance, takes on McGill Friday at 1 p.m. Saskatchewan Time.
Alberta opened the scoring a minute and 29 seconds into the contest
on a Jordan Rowley tally. The third-year defenceman, who was named
the top rearguard in Canada West this season, jumped into the rush
and deflected Brett Ferguson’s shot past Carleton netminder
Francis Dupuis.
The Golden Bears increased their lead with a power play goal at
6:31. Ferguson dangled his way through the neutral zone before
centering a pass to rookie forward T.J. Foster, who beat Dupuis
stick side.
Carleton cut the Golden Bears lead in half on a Joe Pleckaitis
power play tally with just over five minutes remaining in the
opening stanza. With Ian Barteaux in the penalty box for hooking,
the Ravens were able move the puck freely in the Alberta zone.
Pleckaitis’ seeing-eye shot found its way through a screen
and beat Alberta’s Kurtis Mucha over the glove.
The Golden Bears restored their two-goal advantage on a Travis
Toomey goal with just over three minutes remaining in the opening
stanza. Toomey’s marker stood as the game winner.
Damien Cross gave the Ravens hope late in the third period.
Carleton entered the zone quickly, Cross fed a streaking
Plecktaitis, whose shot beat Mucha but rang off both posts before
Cross batted the puck into the open net. Carleton nearly tied the
game on a late power play shot from Matthew Stanisz but Mucha found
the puck through a screen and made the kick save.
“We found out last year that this game, Thursday, is the
hardest game.” said Alberta head coach Ian Herbers, whose
team was upset 2-1 by Waterloo in its 2013 opener despite
outshooting the Warriors 43-13. “Last year we didn’t
capitalize [on our chances], I like that we came out and scored
right away and got the momentum.”
The Golden Bears controlled play for much of the contest
out-shooting the Ravens 41-17, and held Carleton to just two shots
on goal in the second period.
Carleton head coach Marty Johnson was disappointed with his
team’s start.
“The start wasn’t what we wanted, give Alberta credit.
We will learn from our start and move forward. Alberta is a deep
team, they came at us hard and we didn’t react, give them
credit.”
T.J. Foster was named the player of the game for Alberta, while
Dupuis earned the honour for Carleton.
The PotashCorp University Cup presented by Co-op resumes Thursday
at 7 p.m. local time with the first game of Pool B between the AUS
champion and No. 2 seeded Acadia Axemen and the OUA champion and
No. 3 seeded Windsor Lancers.
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST PERIOD
1. ALB Jordan Rowley (1) (Brett Ferguson, Levko Koper), 1:29
2. ALB T.J. Foster (1) (Brett Ferguson), 6:31 PP
3. CAR Joe Pleckaitis (1) (Tim Billingsley, Mike McNamee), 14:40
PP
4. ALB Travis Toomey (1) (Drew Nichol, Kruise Reddick), 16:49
PENALTIES:
Cardwell (CAR) checking to the head, 10-minute misconduct,
5:21;
Barteaux (ALB) hooking, 13:18.
SECOND PERIOD
(no scoring)
PENALTIES:
Billingsley (CAR) high sticking, 4:42;
Barteaux (ALB) interference, 18:43.
THIRD PERIOD
5. CAR Damien Cross (1) (Joe Pleckaitis), 17:21 PP
PENALTIES:
Deagle (CAR) cross checking, 4:35;
Bahm (CAR) checking to the head, 10-minute misconduct, 12:33;
Crooks (ALB) tripping, 13:07;
Nichol (ALB) tripping, 16:02;
Koper (ALB) cross checking, 19:14.
GOALS (by period)
ALB 3-0-0: 3
CAR 1-0-1: 2
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
ALB 16-15-10: 41
CAR 8-2-7: 17
POWER PLAY:
ALB 1-4
CAR 2-5
GOALTENDERS
ALB – Kurtis Mucha (W, 1-0, 17 shots, 15 saves, 2 GA,
60:00)
CAR – Francis Dupuis (L, 0-1, 41 shots, 38 saves, 3 GA,
59:14)
CAR – Empty net (0 GA, 0:46)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
ALB: T.J. Foster
CAR: Francis Dupuis
REFEREES: Nathan Wieler, Todd Thomander
LINESMEN: Nick Bilko, Sean Dufour
ATTENDANCE: 6102
START: 1:00
END: 3:17
LENGTH: 2:17
POOL STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS (LOCAL TIME)
Pool A (after 1 of 3 games)
| GP | W | L | OTL | Win % | GF | GA | PTS | |
| Alberta | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| McGill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carleton | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Pool B
| GP | W | L | OTL | Win % | GF | GA | PTS | |
| Acadia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Saskatchewan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Windsor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Thursday, March 20
13:00 Pool A #1: Alberta 3, Carleton 2
19:00 Pool B #1: No. 2 Acadia vs. No. 3 Windsor (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Friday, March 21
13:00 Pool A #2: No. 6 Carleton vs. No. 4 McGill (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Pool B #2: Loser Pool B #1 vs. No. 5 Saskatchewan (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Saturday, March 22
14:00 Pool A #3: No. 1 Alberta vs. No. 4 McGill (Sportsnet
360 & www.CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Pool B #3: Winner Pool B #1 vs. No. 5 Saskatchewan (Sportsnet
360 & www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, March 23
13:30 Final (Sportsnet & www.CIS-SIC.tv)
* The webcasts of the 3 televised games will be on pay-per-view basis.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
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