Tommies fall to Aigles Bleus in OT in season opener

(FREDERICTON, N.B.) - The St. Thomas Tommies were defeated 6-5 in overtime by the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus at the Grant-Harvey Centre Thursday night in front of 653 fans.

Pier-Antoine Dion, Allain Saulnier, Alex Saulnier and Pierre Durepos all had two points for the Aigles Bleus, while JC LaFlamme, Andrew Fritsch, Steven Janes, and JC Campagna each tallied two points for the Tommies.

"Once we get over the fact we lost that game, I think we will look back and see that we did some pretty good things," said Tommies bench boss Pat Powers. "I am disappointed with the loss, but I am not disappointed in the effort the guys put forth."

The scoring came early and often in the first period, with LaFlamme converting on the Tommies' second shot of the game at 2:37.  The Aigles Bleus didn't take long to respond as Allain Saulnier beat Tyson Teichmann with a shot from the point at 3:35. Rankyn Campbell reclaimed the lead for the Tommies on the next play, tipping a shot from Sawyer Hannay past Moncton goaltender Adrien Lemay.

The offensive back-and-forth tapered for the rest of the opening frame, until Durepos capitalized on a Tommies turnover with 4.9 seconds left to tie the game at two's after 20 minutes.

"I think where it kind of went bad for us was in the first period. We gave up two goals from the slot off of line changes," Powers said. "That was a priority coming into this game, we didn't do it in the first period, and it ended up costing us."

Penalties became an issue in the second stanza with both teams racking up a total of 103 penalty minutes.

Allain Saulnier eventually capitalized for the Aigles Bleus with the man advantage, finishing off a pass from Durepos and Saulnier. The Aigles Bleus held the Tommies off – they had 10 shots in the period – to keep a one-goal lead heading into the third.

"I think it would have been nice to get another power-play goal. I mean, we had some good opportunities and I think overall our power-play did very well, but we just didn't score," Powers said. "Lemay is a good goaltender and he made some good saves."

The Tommies' Janes scored 46 seconds into the third to tie the game at 3-3.

Penalties plagued the Aigles Bleus during the first half of the frame and LaFlamme took advantage, scoring his second goal of the night off a pass from Marc-Andre Levesque to give the Tommies a 4-3 lead.

Dion evened the score for the Aigles Bleus, finishing a dish from Samuel Groulx at 12:58.  Less than three minutes later, Danny Chiasson scored short-handed to give the Aigles Bleus a 4-3 lead with four minutes left to play.  

The Tommies pulled Teichmann with 1:30 left on the clock and, with 23 seconds left, Colin Martin buried a rebound for the home team to tie the game at 5-5 and force overtime.

Dion, with his second of the game, secured the win for the Aigles Bleus, netting the game-winner off a rebound at 5:28 of overtime. Dion was named the Subway Player of the Game for his efforts.

Moncton's Adrien Lemay stopped 43-of-48 shots in the win, while Teichmann turned aside 30-of-36 shots on goal for the home side.

Both teams are back in action October 17. The Tommies will face the Saint Mary's Huskies in Halifax while the Aigles Bleus will host the StFX X-Men Moncton.

Source: St. Thomas Communications