Valade’s five-point performance powers Huskies past Tigers

HALIFAX, N.S. — Powered by a five-point afternoon from Reid Valade, the Saint Mary's Huskies erupted for four third-period goals to earn a 7–5 win over the Dalhousie Tigers Saturday afternoon at the Dauphinee Arena.

Valade recorded his second hat trick of the season and added two assists, opening the scoring midway through the first period before sealing the victory with an empty-net goal late in the third. The senior forward now leads U SPORTS with 34 points and 21 goals through 18 games this season.

Teammate Ben Allison sits a point behind in the national scoring race with 33 points, tied with with Calgary's Adam Kidd for tops in the country.

Allison finished with a goal and two assists, while Dylan Andrews, Nolan Dillingham and Ben Boyd also scored for Saint Mary's, which outshot Dalhousie 45–25 on the afternoon. Gage Alexander made 20 saves to earn his first win in goal for the Huskies. 

Dalhousie stayed within striking distance thanks in part to its special teams, converting twice on the power-play. Ben Bujold and Brody Fournier each scored twice for the Tigers, who finished the game 2-for-5 with the man advantage. Saint Mary's went 0-for-3 on the power play. Tigers goaltender Carter Richardson stopped 38 shots in the loss. 

Saint Mary's improved to 10-6-0-2 on the season and will next host the StFX X-Men on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m.

Dalhousie dropped to 1-14-1-2 and will visit the Acadia Axemen on Monday, Jan. 5, also a 7 p.m. start.

Both games are available live at www.AUStv.ca

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Photo by Eduardo Ibarra / Saint Mary's Huskies Athletics