By Daniel Simpkin
The Dalhousie Tigers beat the Saint Mary's Huskies 6-5 at the Halifax Forum on December 3rd, 2021.
The Tigers opened the action quickly with an early goal from the first-year star forward Barret Kirwin (Barrie, ON) who scored three and a half minutes into the first period.
Soon after, while rushing back on defence, Jarrett Baker (Black Rock, NS) was sent off for tripping and the Huskies took their first powerplay advantage of the game. However, the Tigers managed to ward off the threat and held their one goal lead.
The Huskies answered back with game tying goal of their own scored by Logan DeNoble (Peterborough, ON) who sniped a brilliant shot into the Tigers net from just inside of the blue line.
Despite both teams laying on the pressure in the closing minutes of the first period, neither team scored a second goal. The game was tied at 1-1 leading into the second period.
Andrew Coxhead (Bedford, NS) was quickly sent off in the second period for slashing and gave the Tigers their first powerplay of the game. However, the Huskies promptly broke loose for a big shot on net that was heroically saved by the home crowd's goalie Connor Hicks (Kanata, ON).
Hicks continued to come up big for the Tigers on the defensive end through the first half of the second period, he had 16 saves by this time.
Keith Getson (Bridgewater, NS) managed to slip past the Dalhousie defencemen and scored the Huskies second goal of the game with eight minutes left to play in the second period.
Building off team momentum, Bradley Johnson (Lindsay, ON) scored off a breakaway pass from his goalkeeper Matt Welsh (Halifax, NS) and extended the Huskies lead to 3-1.
The Huskies offence continued to surge ahead with a fourth goal from Brett Neumann (Toronto, ON). They now commanded a 4-1 lead over the Tigers.
The Huskies led at the end of the second period 4-1.
The tension was mounting between the two teams at the offset of the third period, but the referees quickly took control.
Four minutes into the third period, Shaun Miller (Enfield, NS) picked up a crucial momentum-shifting goal for Dalhousie to bring his team back within two points.
However, Dawson Theede (Brooklin, ON) punched right back for the Huskies and restored the three-point lead two minutes later. The score was 5-2 with nine minutes left to play.
Continuing the back and forth gun fight, Derek Gentile (Sydney, NS) scored for the Tigers a minute after Theede's goal for the Huskies. The score was now 5-3.
Gentile sprung loose for a second goal two minutes later and a fourth goal for the Tigers. The home crowd sprung to their feet in support of the electric performance being put on by both teams.
The Tigers sent the crowd into an all-out frenzy less than a minute later when Logan Johnston (Fredericton, NB) scored the game-tying goal off a clean shot from the blue line 17 seconds later. The score stood at 5-5 with five minutes left to play.
Neither team managed to score again during regulation time and the players returned to their benches in preparation for the overtime period.
The overtime period yielded no further scoring from either team and they headed into a shootout.
The Tigers won the shootout with two goals from Connor Welsh (Halifax, NS) and Darien Kielb (Hamilton, ON).
Notable Tigers performances came from the seven goal scorers. With Darien Kielb getting awarded Subway Player of the Game honours. Theede had a goal and assist to lead the Huskies.
Both teams return to the ice in on January 7th, 2022 with the Tigers facing off against the Acadia Axemen and the Huskies travel to StFX to play the X-Men.