(FREDERICTON, N.B.) - In a battle of the top two teams, and goaltenders, in the AUS conference last night at the Aitken Centre, it took over 84 scoreless minutes of hockey before UNB's Dion Campbell scored in double-overtime to lift the CIS No.2-ranked Varsity Reds to a 1-0 win over the No. 4-ranked Saint Mary's Huskies in game one of the Subway AUS men's hockey finals.
Campbell's goal at the 14:13 mark of the second overtime session came at a point where Huskies goalie Anthony Peters kept Saint Mary's in the game with one huge save after another, and where Peters had stopped 40 shots to that point.
The game-winning play started as a tired Saint Mary's line couldn't clear the zone and Colby Pridham took the puck around the net and centered it. With the puck deflected, Nick MacNeil batted it out of mid-air but hit the far post.
The puck came to rest right on the goal line for a good two seconds before a diving Campbell poked it in to seal it for UNB.
"I got the puck in the slot on my backhand and I threw it at the net," described Campbell. "Nicky took a swing at it and it just plopped. The goalie was out and I thought it was rolling in the net so I put my hand up [in celebration] and the boys got excited on the bench…but it stopped dead on the line. The guys on their team swung and missed but luckily I got there in time."
However the goal didn't come without any objection from the Huskies bench, and head coach Trevor Steinburg said he thought MacNeil touched the puck with his stick above the crossbar.
"We thought it was a high stick," said Steinburg. "We're still not positive that the puck was touched by anybody other than them again. So we thought it may have been blown down."
Despite UNB goalie's Dan LaCosta's first playoff shutout, Peters was named third star for his efforts.
Peters, who hadn't allowed a goal for over 179 minutes dating back to the second period against Acadia on Jan. 23rd, said while it's disappointing to fall after a hard fought effort, he's not dwelling on what's already happened.
"Anything can happen," said Peters. "We'll regroup and we'll have the home crowd revved up so hopefully the boys will feed off that. Hopefully we work hard and get some bounces to give ourselves a chance to win."
Game two of the best-of-three series in set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Halifax.
All AUS playoff games can be viewed live online at www.AUSTV.ca
Source: UNB Sports Information
Photo courtesy of Brian Smith