CIS men's hockey Sunday roundup

Source: Eric Cederberg, Acadia Manager, Events and Communication

MONCTON, N.B. - The Acadia Axemen pulled off a 3-2 win over the Moncton Aigles Bleus to capture the best of five series in four games and will advance to the AUS Finals best of five series against the Saint Mary's Huskies.

The Huskies eliminated the first place finishing UNB Varsity Reds in four games that included tonight's 1-0 win in Halifax.

The Axemen threw the first stone with a goal only 11 seconds into the opening period. Mike Cazzola's opening marker matched that of the previous three games where a goal was scored either by the Axemen or Aigles Bleus in the opening minute.

Just under four minutes later, veteran blue liner Chris Owens' shot from the high slot to give the Axemen a 2-0 lead. Playoff leading scorer Alex Emond scored his sixth goal on the man-advantage with five minutes remaining in the first period to cut the lead in half.

Luc Williams tied the game at 8:26 in the second period for the Aigles Blues but Acadia's Dustin Ekelman scored the eventual game winner with under five minutes remaining in the second frame.

A scoreless third period ended an exciting game where Acadia's Evan Mosher repelled 19 shots while Moncton's Adrien Lemay backstopped 25 shots. Outshot in the first period 8-7, Acadia managed to hold an 11-6 and 10-7edge in the second and third periods.

Both teams were one for four on the powerplay.

The Axemen will host the first two games in a best of five game AUS Final series against Saint Mary's, since they are the highest remaining seeded team. The Axemen defeated Saint Mary's in all four meetings this past regular season. The Huskies finished fifth in the standings with a 14-14 record and swept the first three game quarterfinals series against UPEI and then won the best of five semifinal series against UNB in four games.

The last time Acadia was in the AUS finals was in 2005-06 where they swept UNB in three games to win their eighth championship. Last season the Huskies eliminated Acadia in four games of a best of five semi-final series.

 LONDON, Ont. - A slow start on the scoreboard proved costly for Western, as the Windsor Lancers rode a three-goal second period to a 3-1 win to eliminate the Mustangs from OUA playoff contention at Thompson Arena on Sunday night.
 
 "Tremendous effort," Mustangs' head coach Clarke Singer remarked after the game. "We asked the guys before the game to give us everything they had and they did. I thought they left it all out there."
 
 With the 2-1 series win, the Lancers will advance to the OUA West Finals to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves. After the game, Singer gave Windsor full credit.
 
 "We've got a great team just down the hallway that played one heck of a series against us and we've got a great group in this dressing room that left it all on the table," Singer said. "Credit to Windsor—they did a great job. They had a great game plan, great goaltending and they were better than us this series.
 
 "We wish them well going forward," he added.
 
 Western's tough luck so far this post-season on the power play continued into Sunday's first period, which saw the Mustangs earn two power plays and squander them both. It wasn't for lack of chances either, as Western fired a 14 shots at Lancers' netminder Parker Van Buskirk compared to Windsor's seven.
 
 In the second period, however, the majority of chances would swing the other way, setting the Mustangs on their darkest timeline. By the time the last second clicked off the clock in the period, Western's fate was all but sealed.
 
 Mac MacDonnell opened the scoring for the Lancers just over three minutes into the frame, taking a feed from linemate Spencer Pommells off a neutral zone faceoff win and burying the puck behind Unice. Three minutes later, with MacDonnell looking for his second of the night, Unice bounced back big time, robbing MacDonnell on a breakaway before stoning Pommells on the rebound.
 
 Despite Unice's efforts, a couple of defensive breakdowns from the Mustangs would allow Windsor to get on the board twice more before the period's end. Mike Christou scored with 11:11 on the clock, followed quickly by Matt Beaudoin on a Western giveaway at 10:15.
 
 When asked after the game about a possible turning point, Singer was quick to point to the third goal.
 
 "The way we were creating some chances [prior to the goal]—we were squeezing our sticks a bit—but when you're only down two you can get a couple back in a shift sometimes," he explained. "That third goal, when it went in, that's a real big mountain to climb for us."
 
 With their three-goal lead in hand, Windsor did an impressive job of shutting down Western's offense to close out the second, limiting the Mustangs to just six shots. Whenever the Mustangs did get a chance, Van Buskirk was stellar, making a number of game-saving saves with time winding down in the frame.
 
 The Mustangs had their strongest start of the game in the third, pinning Windsor in their zone for the majority of the first ten minutes. Alex Micallef made sure that zone time wouldn't go to waste, potting Western's first goal of the game 6:10 into the frame on a feed from Daniel Erlich.
 
 That would be as close as Western would get though, as the Lancers were able to shut down the Mustangs' offence as they pressed in the dying minutes. Van Buskirk stopped a game-high 16 shots in the period to close out his great performance, finishing the game with 36 saves total.
 
 While Western won't continue on in the OUA playoffs, they showed a ton of promise and fight—qualities that they can look to build on when they return to the ice next season. For the five Mustangs that won't be returning to the team next year, Singer had nothing but praise after the game.
 
 "These guys give their heart and soul not only to the program but to each other and the university, travelling all over the country and playing hard," Singer said.  "We're proud of them, proud of everything they give."

Source: Lance Doucet, Calgary Sports Information Assistant

CALGARY – Facing elimination and an upset, the No. 4-ranked University of Calgary Dinos overcame a tenacious University of Manitoba Bisons squad for a 2-1 overtime triumph, booking their ticket to the conference final with a 2-1 series win on Sunday evening at the Father David Bauer Arena.

In a day that saw two of the CIS’ top 10 teams eliminated from the post season, the Dinos had to battle to avoid becoming the third. Manitoba was a shot away from going to the championship series despite not leading throughout the weekend. Calgary’s Ryan Harrison and Manitoba’s Brendan Rowinski tallied the only goals of regulation. Harrison would assist in the overtime heroics as his set-up Alex Dzielski for the deciding goal.

“It was a battle, it was a lesson learned by our guys on how hard you have to play in the playoffs. There are no free inches versus a team like that,” explained Dinos bench boss Mark Howell. “I thought we started really well, when the glass broke we lost our wind. After that we didn’t really get it back until midway through the third. I thought we skated really well from there until we got the game-winner.”

“We wanted to keep everything simple,” said Dzielski on the team’s mindset heading into overtime. “We wanted to keep doing the little things right and to not be beat defensively.”

Trying to improve on their power play efforts from the night before, the Dinos struck first at the 5:27 of the first period. Calgary took the play to the front of the net where the first-year Harrison was able to put in a rebound off a Walker Wintoneak deflection for his first goal of the playoffs.

While the first period was very feisty on both sides of the puck, the Bisons did not assert themselves until one play altered the momentum of the period. A hit on Giffen Nyren broke a pane of glass in the Manitoba end, delaying the game for upwards of 15 minutes as the rink crew cleaned things up. When the play resumed, the Bisons were all over the ice and tied the game on a shot by Rowinski at 15:15 of the opening frame.

While neither club found a hole on their opponent’s netminder, the second period was full of chances. Five power plays were divided out but were turned away by strong penalty killing.

With it all on the line in the third period, the fourth-ranked team in the country did their best to sway the play in their favour. The Dinos were able to control the majority of possession in the 20 minute session, but once again couldn’t solve Joe Caligiuri. The Bisons ended regulation with the best chance as a Manitoba shot in the dying seconds fell just before the goal line, allowing the Dinos to swipe it away from danger, leading to a second-straight night of overtime.

Unable to end the game in 60 minutes time, Calgary continued with force in the extra session, looking to avoid an upset. Just over five minutes into the first overtime, Harrison cut around the left side and went behind the net where he made a pass. The puck connected with Dzielski who launched a shot that went off a body in front and past Caligiuri, sending the Father David Bauer Arena into a frenzy to end the series.

“I knew I had some room to skate, I saw that Manitoba had backed up so I took it wide. They collapsed so I found Alex wide open, he let it go and it went in,” said Harrison.

Manitoba outshot Calgary 36-25. Jacob DeSerres made 24 saves, while Caligiuri stopped 34 in the defeat.

The Dinos were 1-6 on the power play, while the Bisons went 0-3 on the man advantage.

With the series victory, Calgary now advances to the Canada West Final. The championship series will be held in Edmonton, hosted by the No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears.