Photo credit Josh Shaefer www.joshschaeferphotography.com

SASKATOON (CIS) – Olivier Donovan scored the game-winner on the power play one minute and 11 seconds into the third period and Tommy Tremblay tallied twice to lift the third-seeded UQTR Patriotes to a 3-1 victory over the tournament host Saskatchewan Huskies at the CIS men’s hockey championship Friday night, at Credit Union Centre.

University Cup website: www.universitycup.ca

The result sets up a battle for first place in pool B Saturday at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan Time – live on Sportsnet and www.CIS-SIC.tv – between the Patriotes (1-0) and the UNB Varsity Reds (1-0), who defeated Saskatchewan by an identical 3-1 score on Thursday.

The winners advance to Sunday’s University Cup final at 5:30 p.m., live on Sportsnet ONE and www.CIS-SIC.tv.

The Huskies see their season come to an end following their second loss in as many nights.

“I’m so proud of my players. We just beat a very good hockey team on their home ice, in a very challenging environment,” said first-year UQTR head coach Gilles Bouchard. “We’re not out of the woods yet. We have to face another formidable opponent tomorrow night.”

UQTR opened the scoring only 6:21 into the game. After walking out from behind the net, all-Canadian forward Félix Petit saw his shot blocked by a defenceman but the puck rebounded straight to the stick of Tremblay, who fired into an empty cage.

The locals tied it up with 3:21 left in the first period during a four-on-three power play. Andrew Bailey’s sharp angle wrist shot went off the arm of goaltender Marc-Antoine Gélinas and popped straight up into the air. Kyle Bortis stood at the top of the crease and batted the puck out of mid-air and into the net.

Saskatchewan held a slim 13-12 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes of play.

Following an uneventful second period that saw the OUA champions outshout their Canada West rivals 9-6, Donovan, a fourth-year centre from Gatineau, Que., broke the deadlock early in the third with a blast from the point that fooled Ryan Holfeld on the glove side.

Tremblay, a sophomore from La Tuque, Que., rounded out the scoring in an empty net with 0.1 second left on the clock.

“Getting that first goal early in the game was key for us,” Tremblay said. “We hadn’t played in six days, had a long travel, and we’ve only had two practices since we got here. We were nervous at the start of the game, so after that first goal, we were able to relax a bit. We were a little late on the puck early on so it took a lot of stress off of everybody.”

The Patriotes had a 14-6 advantage in shots in the final stanza to finish with a 35-25 edge.

The Huskies pushed for the equalizer late in the contest but Gélinas shut down any scoring opportunity. The native of St-Étienne-de-Lauzon, Que., was named player of the game for the winners thanks to his 24-save effort.

“I think keeping it simple in the neutral zone and keeping it out of the scoring zone was key tonight,” said Gélinas.

Huskies bench boss Dave Adolph was proud of his troops despite the result.

“It’s disappointing for sure. It’s not the result we were hoping for at this championship, but it’s not for lack of effort. Our guys played their tail off this weekend, I can’t be more satisfied with their effort.”

“We dug ourselves a hole with yesterday’s two-goal loss and tonight, we just couldn’t get anything going offensively. Hats off to UQTR. They played very well.”

In other University Cup action on Saturday, Saint Mary’s (0-1) faces Waterloo (1-0) in the pool A finale at 1:30 p.m. local, live on Sportsnet and www.CIS-SIC.tv. Saint Mary’s, Waterloo and Alberta (1-1) are all still in the running to advance to the gold-medal final.

SCORING SUMMARY

UQTR 3, Saskatchewan 1

FIRST PERIOD

1. QTR Tommy Tremblay (1) (Félix Petit), 6:21
2. SSK Kyle Bortis (1) (Andrew Bailey), 16:49 PP

PENALTIES:

Jimmy Bubnick (SSK) high sticking, 2:06;
Maxime Robichaud (QTR) interference, 11:06;
Jason Rajotte (QTR) interference, 15:19;
Brennan Bosch (SSK) slashing, 16:21;
Pierre-Olivier Morin (QTR) interference, 16:36.

SECOND PERIOD

(no scoring)

PENALTIES:

Christophe Tremblay-Losier (QTR) tripping, 1:21;
Olivier Hotte (QTR) tripping, 11:09;
Ryan Funk (SSK) tripping, 19:35.

THIRD PERIOD

3. UQTR Olivier Donovan (1) (Emmanuel Boudreau), 1:11 PP
4. UQTR Tommy Tremblay (2) (Billy Lacasse), 19:59 EN

PENALTIES:

Zak Stebner (SSK) cross checking, 4:57;
Pierre-Luc Lessard (QTR) illegal equipment, 5:41;
Kyle Bortis (SSK) tripping, 10:21.

GOALS (by period)
QTR: 1-0-2: 3
SSK: 1-0-0: 1

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
QTR: 12-9-14: 35
SSK: 13-6-6: 25

POWER PLAY:
QTR: 1-4
SSK: 1-6

GOALTENDERS
QTR – Marc-Antoine Gélinas (W, 1-0, 25 shots, 24 saves, 1 GA, 60:00)
SSK – Ryan Holfeld (L, 0-2, 34 shots, 32 saves, 2 GA, 58:43)
SSK – Empty net (1 shot, 1 GA, 1:17)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
QTR: Marc-Antoine Gélinas
SSK: Kyle Bortis

REFEREES: Mario Maillet, Jeff Ingram

LINESMEN: Scott Sharun, Darryl Surminski

ATTENDANCE: 4379

START: 7:08
END: 9:22
LENGTH: 2:14

POOL STANDINGS & RESULTS (SASKATCHEWAN TIME)

Pool A standings (after 2 of 3 games) 

GP W L GF GA PTS
1. Waterloo 1 1 0 2 1 2
2. Alberta 2 1 1 5 5 2
3. SMU  1 0 1 3 4 0

Pool B standings (after 2 of 3 games) 

1. UNB  1 1 0 3 1 2
1. UQTR 1 1 0 3 1 2
3. Sask  2 0 2 2 6 0

Thursday, March 14
1:00 pm Pool A #1: Waterloo 2, Alberta 1
7:20 pm Pool B #1: UNB 3, Saskatchewan 1

Friday, March 15
1:00 pm Pool A #2: Alberta 4, Saint Mary’s 3 (OT)
7:00 pm Pool B #2: UQTR 3, Saskatchewan 1

Saturday, March 16
1:30 pm Pool A #3: Waterloo vs. Saint Mary’s (Sportsnet & www.CIS-SIC.tv) *
8:00 pm Pool B #3: UNB vs. UQTR (Sportsnet & www.CIS-SIC.tv)

Sunday, March 17
5:30 pm University Cup Final (Sportsnet ONE & www.CIS-SIC.tv)

* Except Sportsnet East

-CIS-