Huskies open 2017-18 with 4-1 win over Tigers

(Halifax, NSP In their first AUS game of the 1017-18 AUS season a consistent and balanced attack carried the Saint Mary's Huskies to a 4-1 victory over their crosstown rival Dalhousie Tigers at the Halifax Forum.

The Huskies jumped on the Tigers quickly by scoring twice in the first three minutes and did not look back from there.

Jake Coughler (St Catharines, Ont.) opened things up for the Huskies by scoring his first AUS goal, on his first shot, on his first shift 1:15 in. He forced a turnover in the Tigers' zone that squirted to Calder Brooks (Emerald Park, Sask.) all alone in the slot. Tigers' goalie Corbin Boes (Saskatoon, Sask.) made the initial save on Brooks and Coughler was right on the doorstep to tap the rebound home.

Just under two minutes later Bronson Beaton (Springhill, N.S.) tallied his first of the year. Anthony Repaci (Toronto, Ont.) won a battle in the right corner of the Tigers zone and fed the puck back to Mark Trickett (Baddeck, N.S.) on the blue-line in the middle of the ice. Trickett fired a shot through traffic; Boes made the first save and Beaton knocked home the rebound from in tight.

Repaci gave the Huskies a 3-0 lead with just 31 seconds left in the first. On a faceoff to the left of Boes, Hunter Garlent (Thorold, Ont.) tapped the puck into the corner and Repaci picked it up with speed, he wheeled behind the net and out into the slot before spinning to his forehand and whipping a wrister low glove side.

Garlent made it 4-0 Huskies 5:25 into the second. He picked off a clearing attempt at the left dot in the Tigers' zone, made a slick move towards the net and sniped high glove side from just outside the crease.

Myles McGurty (Hoboken, N.J.) got the Tigers on the board 17:08 into the third. Working with a two-man advantage on the power-play, Chandler Yakimowicz (Kingston, Ont.) got the puck on the left half-wall in the Huskies zone. He fed it back to Duncan MacIntyre (Sydney, N.S.) in the high slot, who fired a one-timer on goal. Huskies goalie Eric Brassard (St. Hubert, Que.) made a pad save and McGurty shelfed the rebound from a few feet to the left of the net.

Brassard made 11-saves in the win for the Huskies. Boes stopped 23 for the Tigers in the loss.

The Huskies went zero for five on the power-play, while the Tigers were one for five.

Up next both teams are back in action on Saturday, October 7. The Tigers will stay at the Forum to host the Acadia Axemen; the Huskies go on the road to play the StFX X-men in Antigonish N.S.

Cam Honey-Webb, SMU communications

Photo Nick Pearce