V-Reds aren't Kidd-ing around
The number one nationally ranked University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds needed a goal with 4.1 seconds left in regulation time to defeat the sixth-ranked University of Calgary Dinos 2-1 in their opening game at the Cavendish Farms University Cup tournament Thursday night at the Aitken Centre.
No Kidd-ing.
Defenceman Josh Kidd's blast from the right point with 4.1 seconds left deflected off a Calgary defender and past CIS goaltender of the year Dustin Butler to give the hometown V-Reds a dramatic victory and a ticket to Saturday evening's 7 p.m. game against the University of Western Ontario Mustangs - and sent a capacity crowd of 3,760 fans into a frenzy.
Jordan Clendenning of the V-Reds and Teegan Moore of the Dinos had traded power-play goals 54 seconds apart in the second period and these two teams battled tooth and nail the rest of the way before Kidd struck with his bullet - or rather the dagger - that felled the Dinos.
"There's not a better guy on the back end to be taking the shot," said UNB captain Kyle Bailey, who beat his counterpart, Calgary captain Reid Jorgensen, cleanly on the draw, shovelled it to Luke Gallant, who sent it back to Kidd.
"I've played with a lot of guys on a lot of teams and I've never seen a guy shoot the puck as hard as him," said Bailey. "If you can have one guy ripping the puck from the blueline, I'll take him."
"Eight seconds left, you're just trying to go out there and get a shot on net and hopefully it goes in," Kidd said. "Luke Gallant set me up nicely and the puck had eyes and it was in the back of the net. This is the highlight of my career, definitely."
"Sometimes a good scare is the best thing in this tournament, and we certainly got a good scare tonight," said UNB coach Gardiner MacDougall. "Sometimes, you work hard enough, you get an opportunity. A faceoff late in a game is an opportunity, and our group was successful."
Bailey, the V-Reds' top faceoff man, lost a key faceoff in Game 2 of the AUS final here. In a season that is all about redemption, that draw - which made him 20-11 on the night in that department - was his.
The tone was set even before the opening faceoff when Andrew Sparks - son of UNB associate coach Todd Sparks - led the V-Reds onto the ice and earned a standing ovation.
The V-Reds - or more correctly, the Dinos - didn't give them any opportunity to build on it, at least not immediately. Shots were 5-5 midway through the first, for example, with no real good scoring opportunities among them.
Kidd laid a thunderous check on Calgary's Tyler Swystun with 8:26 left in the first, the biggest hit of a physical first period.
Swystun hit Clendenning with a high elbow - they called it interference, but you say po-tay-to and I say po-ta-to late in the first to put the V-Reds on the power play to start the second. Four seconds in, defenceman Luke Egener drew a four-minute high sticking penalty, granting UNB a 5-on-3 power play for 1:31.
The V-Reds managed one (1) shot on the two-man advantage and finally cashed with 55 seconds left on the four-minute advantage when Clendenning one-timed a pass from Nick MacNeil from the slot past Butler at 3:09 to break the scoreless tie.
The lead didn't last long. With Marc-Antoine Desnoyers in the box for holding, the Dinos were more efficient on their power play, with Moore scoring 20 seconds into the man advantage, taking advantage of a live bounce off the boards and banging it past UNB goalie Travis Fullerton.
Butler denied Clendenning with a pad save from the right five minutes in.
The V-Reds were granted another power-play chance when veteran Aaron Richards of the Dinos drew a hooking penalty at 5:38.
The V-Reds didn't score, but they seemed to seize some momentum, with MacNeil bulling his way to the front of the net on their best chance. Clendenning took a long feed from Ben Wright and tried to burst in from the blueline, but couldn't get a step on Calgary blueliner Kodie Curran.
The Dinos threw a scare into the crowd early in the third, with good scoring chances by Jerrid Sauer and then Colton Grant in quick succession. The V-Reds answered with a couple of good chances of their own - Dion Campbell, with the best one, on a drop pass from Lachlan MacIntosh, Hunter Tremblay on another, whirling and firing.
Fullerton had to be alert on a shot from the right wing by Brock Nixon that was inadvertently deflected by Jon Harty seven minutes into the period.
Fullerton made a glove save on Nixon from the high slot a little later on to keep it even, but you got the sense that, the longer it stayed even, the happier the Dinos would be.
The V-Reds thought they had one with 6:22 left off a scramble, but Butler had the puck covered. Butler denied MacIntosh in tight with 3:38 left, getting the big pad down. Tremblay had a wraparound chance in the final minute of regulation as UNB put on a last-minute flurry.
And then came the draw, and the pass from Gallant and the shot by Kidd.
Dinos coach Mark Howell took little comfort from the fact that his team, beaten 10-2 and 6-1 by the V-Reds six months ago, gave the top-ranked Reds all they could handle this night.
"It's not a moral victory," said the former Calgary cop. "Our guys played extremely hard, they competed at the level they needed to compete at...they executed the last play of the game and we didn't.
"I'm proud of our effort, but we came here to win a national championship," Howell said. "We still have a chance to do that. It's not a moral victory at all."
The Dinos, who were outshot 28-22, are on the ice tonight against the Mustangs in a 7 p.m. faceoff in the continuation of Pool A play.
St. FX takes on the University of Alberta Golden Bears in the other game on today's schedule, this afternoon at 2 p.m.
The V-Reds get the night off before facing the Mustangs on Saturday night, where a victory would put them in the gold medal game against the Pool B winner Sunday at 8 p.m.