(ANTIGONISH, NS) The U SPORTS No. 1 ranked UNB REDS remained undefeated on the season with a close 2-1 overtime victory over the No. 10 ranked St FX X-Men, on Friday night.
Playing before some 800 fans at the Charles V. Keating Centre, UNB's Austen Keating (Guelph, ON) netted the game winning goal 3:36 into the extra frame to give the Reds the win, their fifth in five games.
The teams opened with a fast-paced first period, though were held scoreless. X fought off an early UNB powerplay and the REDS outshot the X-Men 8-7 in the opening frame.
Isaac Nurse (Hamilton, ON) had the best scoring chance for the visitors as he went in alone on a breakaway with seven minutes left in the period, but was stopped by X netminder Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON).
The X-Men nearly got on the board minutes later when Matt Philip (Ilderton, ON) fed Josh Nelson (Lockport, IL), left alone in the slot, but his shot was saved by UNB's Rylan Parenteau (Saskatoon, SK).
The second period brought increased physicality and a melee broke out four minutes in. After a potential missed St FX roughing call, tempers flared on the next puck possession, resulting in penalties to both squads and a five-minute powerplay for UNB.
The REDS were unable to capitalize, as the X-Men penalty kill units did their job and Raaymakers stood tall in the X net.
Parenteau made a nice save on a Matt Struthers (Milton, ON) shot 13 minutes in, but left a big rebound that Philip wasn't able to get a stick on.
The REDS finally broke the goose egg at 16:33, while on the powerplay when Samuel Dove-McFalls (Montreal, QC) found Brady Gilmour (Grafton, ON) low in the slot and he re-directed the puck past Raaymakers.
That goal held up as the REDS led 1-0 after 40 minutes, outshooting the X-Men 9-4 in the second period.
The X-Men pressured for the equalizer in the third period as they outshot UNB 7-4.
Zack Trott (Mulmur, ON) had a couple chances for the X-Men as he and linemates Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) and Struthers were strong on the puck for the home squad.
The St FX efforts paid off with 3:36 left to play. Struthers brought the puck through neutral ice then hit a streaking Jacob Hudson (Antigonish, NS) who dished off to Philip just inside the blue line. Philip split the REDS defenders and whipped a quick shot past Parenteau to knot the game 1-1.
In the overtime frame the teams exchanged scoring chances in the three-on-three format.
The REDS trio of Keating, Noah Carroll (Strathroy, ON) and Tyler Boland (St. John's, NF) kept the possession in the X zone. Keating circled behind the X net, beating his defender and backhanded a shot towards Raaymakers that squirted through his pads for the game winner.
Raaymakers finished the game with 21 saves, while Parenteau, with 17 saves, was the Subway Player of the Game.
Finals shots were 23-18, in favour of UNB.
The X-Men will be back in action on home ice Saturday night when they host Moncton, while UNB travels to Halifax to take on the Dalhousie Tigers. Puck drop for both games is 7:00pm.
RECAP BY: Krista McKenna/STFX Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Bryan Kennedy/for STFX Athletics