REDS down Stingers 2-1 to advance to U Cup semifinals

(CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I.) The UNB REDS beat the Concordia Stingers 2-1 Thursday night, in a tightly contested quarter-final game at the 2023 Cavendish Farms University Cup, in Charlottetown.

Cody Morgan and Simon Pinard scored goals for the REDS and goalie Samuel Richard made 13 saves on 14 shots.

Pinard was named the U SPORTS Nike Team Player of the Game.

"I thought we got off to a good start, we were able to establish our forecheck and it was one of those game where we just had to stick with it," said REDS' captain Jason Willms. "It was a great goal by Pin (Pinard) in the third to get us going and we were able to come out on top."

The game came to an unexpected halt at the 8:46 mark of the first period when officials stopped play because of an issue with a pane of plexiglass in behind the net that UNB defended in the first and third periods. It took more than 15 minutes for Eastlink Centre staff to replace it.

It wasn't long after the resumption of play that UNB opened the scoring.

At 10:06, Cody Morgan was left unchecked in the slot, took a Willms pass from behind the Concordia net and made a nice move around a sprawling Stingers' netminder Jonathan Lemieux and fired the puck into a wide-open net.

The REDS took that 1-0 lead to the first intermission.

Late in the second period, with Concordia working on their first power-play of the game, Phélix Martineau fired a wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle that beat Richard.

The teams would go to the second intermission tied 1-1.

The REDS regained the lead at 4:58 of the third, when Mike Petizian banked a pass off the end boards to Pinard, at the side of the Stingers net. He backhanded the puck in for a 2-1 edge.

"I saw some open space behind the net, and I knew that Mikey saw me there, so I just tried to beat the goalie as fast as I could and tried to get the puck on net and that result happened and we're pretty happy about that," he said.

The Stingers mounted a strong effort in search of another equalizer, but the REDS were ready.

"That's one thing that championship hockey is all about, whether it's having that extra effort on the backcheck or the little chip off the glass or blocking a shot," said Willms. "I think that seven-eight minute surge they had in the third, I think those little things were big. Some of the older guys like Ross MacDougall blocking three shots in one shift and just doing all the little things that maybe don't show up on the score sheet go a long way for a team trying to win a championship."

The REDS outshot the Stingers 25-14, limiting them to seven or fewer in each period.

"We knew it wasn't going to be an easy task tonight," said Willms. "It's never going to be easy when you're facing the top eight teams in the country."

UNB advances to face the No. 2 seed UQTR Patriotes in the first of Saturday's two semi-finals. Game time is 1:00pm.

"We'll be ready for them," said Pinard.

"It's not easy to get to the nationals and it's even harder to win it," added Willms. "We're going to have our hands full on Saturday, but we're going to be ready for the challenge."

Source: Andy Campbell for UNB Athletics