REDS Roll Over Dal

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB REDS men's hockey team returned to their winning ways on Saturday afternoon at UNB's Aitken Centre.

Less than 24-hours after losing their first game in 598 days, the REDS knocked off the Dalhousie Tigers in a dominant 11-1 showing.

"We needed it, big time," said REDS' forward Drew Elliott (Musquash, NB), who led the REDS with two goals and an assist. "It's been a while since the boys lost. I think today was definitely a statement game and we needed it big time."

UNB's stellar defence allowed just three Dal shots in each of the first two periods and 12 in total.

In the first period, Ben Corbeil (Granby, QC) split two Tigers defenders and went top shelf to open the scoring less than four minutes in.

Three minutes later, defenceman Oscar Plandowski (Halifax, NS) sniped one from the point.

Elliott's first gave UNB a 3-0 lead at 13:19.

"It all starts with my linemates," said Elliott. "My linemates work hard too and I happened to be in the right places. Everybody was rolling there tonight so I'm happy to see that."

By the end of the second period, it was 7-0.

REDS goals came from Elliott, with his second, Camaryn Baber (Sault Ste. Marie, ON), Michael Petizian (Mississauga, ON) and Peter Reynolds (Fredericton, NB).

Tigers' head coach Chris Donnelly opted for a change in net after UNB's seventh goal, replacing Alex MacDonald (Truro, NS) with Robbie Forbes (Oakville, ON).

In the third period, the UNB onslaught continued, as Kale McCallum (Rothesay, NB), Emmett Sproule (Collingwood, ON), Cole Huckins (Upper Kingsclear, NB) and Sean McGurn (Ottawa, ON) all scored goals.

In the dying minutes of the final period, Dal's Brody Fournier (Perth, ON) robbed the REDS of the shutout.

Tanner Somers (Miramichi, NB) made 11 saves in the victory.

15 UNB skaters had points in the win, including six players with three points each.

It's the team's highest-scoring outing of the season so far, and largest margin of victory in an Atlantic University Sport regular season game since January of 2020.

"We've just got to keep winning," said Elliott, named Tim Horton's Player of the Game. "It's a winning culture here at UNB and it's just the way, we have to go into every night and battle."

The REDS are now 7-0-1-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) and will be on the Aitken Centre ice again on Wednesday at 7:00pm when they host second place Moncton.

With the loss, Dal sinks to 1-7-0-0.

The Tigers return to action on Wednesday at 7:00pm in a home tilt versus Acadia.

RECAP BY: Peter Jewett/for UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: Seth Murphy/for UNB Athletics