The CIS ranked No. 2 UNB Varsity Reds skated away with a 5-2 victory over the CIS No. 10 StFX X-Men Friday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre in front of over 1100 fans.
Colby Pridham scored two goals for the V-Reds, who pulled away from the X-Men in the third period for the win.
The AUS league-leading Varsity Reds opened the scoring in the game as Pridham notched his first goal at 12:49 of the first period. The goal came just after the X-Men had killed off a penalty. Cam Critchlow and Dion Campbell assisted on the play.
The one-goal lead held after the first period, which was fast-paced and physical. The Varsity Reds outshot the X-Men 14-11 in the opening frame.
Campbell increased the UNB lead with an unassisted goal 6:25 into the second period. He jumped on his own loose rebound in front of X-Men goaltender Drew Owsley and banged the puck in the net.
X-Men forward Jarrad Struthers closed the gap to one goal again, scoring just after he broke out of the penalty box at 11:04. His high shot beat Varsity Reds netminder Daniel LaCosta. Josh Day and Gabe O’Connor were in on the play with the assists.
With a 2-1 lead and 24-18 shot advantage after two periods, the Varsity Reds pounced early on the home team X-Men in the third period. Pridham scored his second goal of the game just 36 seconds in. His shot from the point beat Owsley low on the far side and the V-Reds went up 3-1. Critchlow and Campbell assisted.
Critchlow then gave UNB a 4-1 advantage, snapping a high shot just under the cross bar which fooled Owsley. The 5:19 goal was unassisted and triggered a momentum shift in the V-Reds favor.
The X-Men fought back late in the period, however, but it was too little too late. Josh Day scored the X-Men’s second goal at 16:15, beating LaCosta top shelf as Cole Grbavac and Jason Bast assisted.
The X-Men had two good chances with two minutes left to play as LaCosta came up big for the V-Reds with a pair of key saves.
StFX pulled goaltender Owsley with just under two minutes to play but UNB replied with an empty net goal by Nick MacNeil with 36 seconds left on the clock to round out the scoring and finalize the 5-2 win.
LaCosta had 23 saves in the UNB net for the win as the Varsity Reds outshot the X-Men 37-25. Owsley had 32 saves in the losing effort.
Campbell earned Subway player of the game honors for his one goal, two assist performance.
UNB improves to 15-4-0 on the season and will travel to Halifax for a game against the CIS No. 5 Saint Mary’s Huskies (13-5-1) on Saturday evening. The X-Men drop to 11-6-2 and will host the UEPI Panthers (9-9-1) Saturday at 7:00 pm.