FREDERICTON, N.B. (CIS) – Kevin Baker scored 90 seconds into the contest and the fourth-seeded Western Ontario Mustangs never surrendered the lead en route to a 3-2 win over No. 6 Calgary in the fourth game of the CIS men’s hockey championship, Friday night, before 3,422 at the University of New Brunswick’s Aitken Centre.
University Cup website:
http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mice
First place in Pool A and a spot in Sunday’s University Cup final will be on the line when the OUA finalist Mustangs (1-0) face the top-ranked and tournament host UNB Varsity Reds (1-0) Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Atlantic, live on Rogers Sportsnet.
The loss sends the Dinos back home from their first CIS championship appearance since 2000 with an 0-2 record. Calgary lost 2-1 to UNB in the Pool A opener on Thursday.
Baker, a third-year centre from Georgetown, Ont., who was Western’s top scorer in the regular season with 32 points in 25 outings, beat Calgary goalie Dustin Butler with a wrist shot over the right shoulder on an odd-man rush to give the Mustangs the early lead.
“A fast start is always key for us. It’s something that we’ve worked on all year, and it really sets the tempo for us if we can get it,” said Western head coach Clarke Singer, the reigning OUA West coach of the year.
“Where else would we want to be... We’re headed to the national semifinals against the number one team. That’s what you play for all year, to get to that stage,” added Singer, who has guided his troops to six University Cup appearances in 12 years at the helm.
The Western-UNB matchup will be a rematch of the 2009 CIS final in Thunder Bay, Ont., when the V-Reds prevailed 4-2 to capture the third national title in program history. Both teams failed to qualify for the 2010 tournament.
“We still have a lot of players from two years ago. It’s helpful having gone through that. It should definitely help,” said Baker, who added an assist on the Mustangs’ second goal and was named game MVP for the winning side.
Josh McQuade doubled the Western lead 6:07 into the middle period when he was sent on a breakaway by Baker. The freshman from Grimsby, Ont., beat Butler five-hole with a low shot, 40 seconds after a Calgary penalty had expired.
The Dinos needed only 80 seconds to respond and cut the deficit back to one.
Colton Grant found Brock Nixon all alone in front of the net from the blue line, and the forward from Russell, Man., roofed the puck to beat netminder Anthony Grieco on the blocker side.
It looked as though the Mustangs had put the game away when Julian Cimadamore, another rookie from Concord, Ont., made it a 3-1 affair with 5:12 left in the third stanza with a high wrist shot to the glove side on a breakaway.
But the Dinos dominated the last five minutes of the contest and made things interesting when Teegan Moore scored with 2:42 remaining. The fourth-year senior from Thompson, Man., backhanded the puck over a sprawling Grieco at the end of a mad scramble in the crease.
Calgary kept the pressure on until the final whistle but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Grieco, a sophomore from Brampton, Ont., earned the win following a 21-save effort, including nine in the final frame when the Mustangs were outshot 9-4.
Butler, the CIS goaltender of the year from Calgary, finished with 19 saves.
Calgary was shut out on five power-play opportunities, while Western went 0-for-2.
“It’s tough. Obviously you don’t want to come here and go 0-2,” said second-year Calgary head coach Mark Howell, the CIS coach of the year. “But when you look at our season overall, we have to be proud of what we’ve accomplished, reaching the Canada West final and then our first University Cup since 2000.”
GAME NOTES: It marked the first-ever meeting between Western and Calgary at the University Cup... The championship final is set for 8 p.m. Atlantic, live on Rogers Sportsnet..
SCORING SUMMARY
Western Ontario 3, Calgary 2
FIRST PERIOD
1. UWO Kevin Baker (1) (Keaton Turkiewicz, Jason Swit), 1:30
PENALTIES:
Aaron Richards (CGY) hooking, 7:56;
Brandon Greenside (UWO) hooking, 11:39;
Steve Reese (UWO) hooking, 19:23.
SECOND PERIOD
2. UWO Josh McQuade (1) (Kevin Baker, Keaton Turkiewicz), 6:07
3. CGY Brock Nixon (1) (Colton Grant, Reid Jorgensen), 7:27
PENALTIES:
Kyle Lamb (UWO) checking from behind (served by Julian Cimadamore), 3:27;
Kyle Lamb (UWO) 10-minute misconduct, 3:27;
Chris Corbeil (UWO) hooking, 11:54;
Kevin Baker (UWO) slashing, 14:52;
Cory Pritz (CGY) hooking, 15:29.
THIRD PERIOD
4. UWO Julian Cimadamore (1) (Steve Resse), 14:48
5. CGY Teegan Moore (1) (Jerrid Sauer, Tyler Swystun), 17:18
PENALTIES:
(none)
GOALS (by period)
UWO: 1-1-1:3
CGY: 0-1-1:2
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
UWO: 7-11-4: 22
CGY: 8-6-9: 23
POWER PLAY:
UWO: 0-2
CGY: 0-5
GOALTENDERS
UWO – Anthony Grieco (W, 1-0, 23 shots, 21 saves, 2 GA, 59:46)
UWO – Team (0 shot, 0:14)
CGY – Dustin Butler (L, 0-2, 22 shots, 19 saves, 3 GA, 59:16)
CGY – Team (0 shot, 0:44)
PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
UWO: Kevin Baker
CGY: Brock Nixon
REFEREES: Adam Byblow, Mark Hulshof
LINESMEN: Benoit Martineau, John MacDonnell
ATTENDANCE: 3,422
START: 7:05
END: 9:25
LENGTH: 2:20
POOL STANDINGS & RESULTS
Pool A standings (after 2 of 3 games)
GP W L GF GA PTS
1. UNB 1 1 0 2 1 2
1. Western 1 1 0 3 2 2
3. Calgary 2 0 2 3 5 0
Pool B standings (after 2 of 3 games)
1. McGill 1 1 0 2 1 2
2. StFX 2 1 1 4 3 2
3. Alberta 1 0 1 1 3 0
Thursday, March 24
Pool B #1: McGill 2, StFX 1
Pool A #1: UNB 2, Calgary 1
Friday, March 25
Pool B #2: StFX 3, Alberta 1
Pool A #2: Western 3, Calgary
Saturday, March 26
14:30 Pool B #3: McGill vs. Alberta (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 Pool A #3: UNB vs. Western (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
Sunday, March 27
20:00 University Cup Final (Rogers Sportsnet / SSN Canada webcast)
