2016 CIS University Cup (Halifax)

[connor macdavid]

USask 3, Carleton 2 (4-OT)
Well that was wild. Carleton wasn't at its best—top line struggled to generate offence, PK gave up an uncharacteristic pair of goals, and USask capitalized on a loose puck in P7 with nine of ten skaters on the ice not moving. Gutted for CU G Pat Killeen, who makes 68 saves in a losing effort to close out his CIS career. Credit to Coach Adolph and his Huskies, but they're likely done Saturday.

StFX 6, Alberta 2
Statement win for X? Didn't catch much of it as I'm in Europe at the moment, but holy smokes. Alberta's got some serious reflecting to do this summer.

For today's games, I'm expecting a pair of three-plus goal wins for UQTR & UNB. I get that a healthy SMU would be dangerous, but they're not healthy and I think UQTR is the deepest offensive team in the tourney.

 

[rethinking]

Huge win for St. FX coming on the heels of knocking off UNB in the AUS finals!

I was really surprised at the 3 consecutive penalties that X took protecting that late 5-2 lead. There were a few other questionable hits and Owsley got involved with Ferguson, I believe. St. FX were certainly involved physically and did a great job on the penalty kill.

 

[TFuel]

Owsley scored the 6th goal for X into an empty net.

Is that the first goal scored by a goalie in Championship history? I gotta think so

 

[AUS Fan]

I had UofS penciled in for a 5-2 win. Credit to Carleton for their game. I did say that the SFX-UofA game could be the best of the weekend. If X brings the same game on Saturday, it could be interesting. I think UNB should romp over UWO and don't count out SMU. They will ice a full roster, although a few guys are less than 100%.

 

[Antigonowhere]

So...

I think we sat down just into the second OT frame and we were not disappointed with the hockey. I'm thankful that the organizers or whoever saw the writing on the wall and allowed fans for the second game into the rink before the game had finished. It was a treat.

That said, the sheer stupidity of this scheduling is beyond me.

I suppose I am a little more bitter because we made the (right) decision to bail after the first. We had to find a cab and get back to the airport so as to at least be somewhat cognizant this morning. I said the hell with it and watched the rest of the game on Eastlink, but it stuck in my craw that I wasn't in my bought and paid for seat, mostly because a game that should have started at 2 started at 4.

Anyway, that's enough on that. Fredericton, pay close attention.

X did not seem to bring the same game they had against UNB in the first period against U of A. They were trying, but Alberta was doing well controlling, and dictating, play. But once X got the elephant untied from their arses it was the same sort of effort those of us lucky enough to see game 2 vs UNB witnessed. They wanted it, they picked away, they played their game, they capitalized.

Now trying to find reasons to be close to a TV tomorrow afternoon...

Those of you near Scotiabank Centre: you're lucky dogs, this is some fantastic hockey being played by all I have seen.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I've seen UQTR get dominated at Nationals enough to never say they are going to walk over someone. I'm coming down today for the games so just hoping for a good one in front of a big crowd.

 

[bert]

SMU 4, UQTR 3 (OT) - The Patriotes are a great team. Can't take anything away from them. But sometimes riding a huge winning streak can bite you at the wrong time (right, V-Reds fans?) UQTR has won 16 straight. Are they due for a loss against a charged-up host team? Also at play - It's possible for UQTR to play down to their opponents (see: 2-1 loss to Ryerson, OT wins vs. Concordia, Brock, Laurentian).

SASK 4, CAR 1 - Just too much from SASK for the Ravens to handle. Carleton is a capable team, but their record against good teams doesn't knock your socks off - including playoffs, the Ravens were 11-8 against teams over .500, but 14-2 against teams at .500 or worse. ConnorMac, you I know I love you buddy, but I'm not sure the Canada West MVP is really that susceptible to an implosion. If this is the scoreline, it will flatter Carleton.

St F X 3, Alberta 1 - Either X rides momentum of their defensive effort against UNB, or they fall flat because they've already won their title. I tend to think its the former. And speaking of records against good opponents, Alberta went 11-9 this season against teams at or above .500 (playoffs included).

UNB 5, Western 1 - I don't want to say Western has *no* chance - we all remember Waterloo 2, Alberta 1 - but I think this would be an equal or greater upset if the Stangs pulled this out. The Reds will be angry, but more importantly, they'll be deeper. This could be one of those games that's 2-1 after 2 periods, and then Western runs out of gas.

Did the score line flatter carleton in a 7 period o.t thriller?...

 

[AdamMcg83]

Did the score line flatter carleton in a 7 period o.t thriller?...

Well, it wasn't how I thought the game would go, but at least I picked the winner.

 

[AdamMcg83]

Also of note - The Ravens have seen their season end in the fourth OT twice in the past four years.

Carleton has now been involved in two record-longest games (longest OUA game and longest U-Cup game), and lost both - in 2012, they lost 2-1 in 4OT to UQTR in game three of the OUA East final.

 

[leafhky88]

Did the score line flatter carleton in a 7 period o.t thriller?...

Carleton outshot the Huskies 37-33 in regulation despite Saskatchewan's 6 power plays to Carleton's 3.

From my viewpoint, Carleton carried the play and had they not given up 2 powerplay goals would have been the team advancing.

I did not watch the OT, but it looks as though the tide turned slightly and Saskatchewan either raised their play or Carleton fell off/got fatigued.

Again, not what I had predicted.

 

[AUS Fan]

I've seen UQTR get dominated at Nationals enough to never say they are going to walk over someone. I'm coming down today for the games so just hoping for a good one in front of a big crowd.

I agree. I've seen them get dismantled by UNB, UofA to name a few. I've also seen them win big games. One key will be for SMU to stay out of the box. I think they can play UQTR 5 on 5.

 

[Antigonowhere]

Carleton, for the most part, appeared to have the shot advantage. But chances, least as far as the OT went, seemed to go Saskatchewan's way and the Huskies seemed to dictate a little more, but as previously suggested, this could have been fatigue - which was an issue for both sides (hellish understandably, too)

The goal, to me, was a nice hockey play. Not tremendously remarkable, but also not a seeing eye shot from the point or a fumbled dump in.

Huge win for St. FX coming on the heels of knocking off UNB in the AUS finals!

I was really surprised at the 3 consecutive penalties that X took protecting that late 5-2 lead. There were a few other questionable hits and Owsley got involved with Ferguson, I believe. St. FX were certainly involved physically and did a great job on the penalty kill.

I don't agree with the word "took". Perhaps, "assessed". I do not often get on the stripes because it's a tough job only getting tougher, but some of the calls and non-calls were a joke. I'll grant that the powerplay that first got X on to the board was likely the wrong one, just to show I am fair.

A national championship is the time for consistency and clarity.

 

[SP Saskatuned]

Carleton outshot the Huskies 37-33 in regulation despite Saskatchewan's 6 power plays to Carleton's 3.

From my viewpoint, Carleton carried the play and had they not given up 2 powerplay goals would have been the team advancing.

I did not watch the OT, but it looks as though the tide turned slightly and Saskatchewan either raised their play or Carleton fell off/got fatigued.

Again, not what I had predicted.

Saskatchewan went on to out-shoot Carleton 35-23 in OT. The Huskies were slowly (albeit very slowly) taking that game over, whether it was attrition or what.

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
SSK 8-16-9-4-16-11-4: 68
CAR 12-10-15-3-8-10-2: 60

Granted, the Hockey Dogs were less than spectacular in regulation and I'm guessing the three-hour time change, travel, etc., didn't help although I understand that the Ravens also had some travel issues.
The Huskies' power play was good and Jordon Cooke, like usual, was solid.
However, Saskatchewan will have to be much better against St. FX if the Huskies hope to advance to Sunday's championship final.
We'll see if they have their legs Saturday afternoon (9 a.m. start Saskatchewan time).

 

[rethinking]

Lucky the UNB / Western game didn't blow up with that type of officiating!

I have to say that Marcoux made quite a few big saves despite only facing 14 or 15 *****!

I wonder how a team like Western would do in the AUS conference?

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Definitely a different standard of officiating at this tournament than we have become accustomed to in the AUS.

UNB could have had another 3-4 goals today. Nice to see Marcoux have a solid game after the X series.

 

[leafhky88]

Score and shotwise - this one consistent with most expectations. Too much from the V-Reds.

 

[northvanman]

Score and shotwise - this one consistent with most expectations. Too much from the V-Reds.

Yep, agree.

The whole playoff experience will serve this Mustang team well for the next few years. They are loaded with rookies. They do need to recruit some top-end scoring and, if they can, they will have great chance to be back with a more competitive team next year.

 

[timbitca]

Great hockey so far, but whoever is running the webcast needs to get a better camera, looks like it's filmed with a 30 year old camcorder, absolutely horrible in this day and age.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I was saying the same thing today...embarrassing quality for a National Championship. We need Ryerson on this...

 

[bad refs]

I agree. I've seen them get dismantled by UNB, UofA to name a few. I've also seen them win big games. One key will be for SMU to stay out of the box. I think they can play UQTR 5 on 5.

I certainly hope that Saint Mary's can address the lack of discipline at the end of the first period. These games are way too important for teams to be taking needless penalties and being undisciplined against a very skilled UQTR team.

 

[rethinking]

Welcome to AUS level competition! The Top Ten voters hopefully, are paying attention.

Except for the late 1st period penalty St. Marys was really good tonight. UQTR's late power play was a gift, the way I saw it!

I kept hearing about UQTR's top ranked offense but I have to wonder how many goals per game the top AUS teams would average if they played against the same level of competition as UQTR?

Attendance records could be broken this weekend?

 

[Drummer]

Great hockey so far, but whoever is running the webcast needs to get a better camera, looks like it's filmed with a 30 year old camcorder, absolutely horrible in this day and age.

Agreed - each of the AUS's home feeds are better than this. There is no reason to throttle the compression when everyone has high speed at home. Also, what's with the aspect ratio? You'd think they would have tested it before hand.

 

[Big Bad Jon]

So did UQTR just play a bad game or were they that over-rated. SMU is middle of pack AUS and were the better team in this game. All we heard was how great the UQTR offence was but boy it sure didn't show. Western looked like a DAL level team against UNB.

 

[Drummer]

Welcome to AUS level competition! The Top Ten voters hopefully, are paying attention.

Except for the late 1st period penalty St. Marys was really good tonight. UQTR's late power play was a gift, the way I saw it!

I kept hearing about UQTR's top ranked offense but I have to wonder how many goals per game the top AUS teams would average if they played against the same level of competition as UQTR?

Attendance records could be broken this weekend?

I think this shows that the OUA East bottom half are a lot weaker than the AUS bottom half. We get to wax STU but they get to wax RMC, UOIT, NIP & CON. They had GF/GA vs RMC of 20-0 and 13-5 vs NIP and a 10-0 game vs TO to start the season. Those games will distort your offence.

In 2012 (Fredericton) they lost to UNB 6-1, in 2013 (Sask) they lost 8-3 to UNB, then got by Acadia but lost 5-1 to AB last year and now were upset by the #8 Host. The pitfalls of playing in a weak conf and having a weak schedule.

This is what I'm afraid could happen to UNB in the coming years as we embark on an unbalanced schedule with the weaker AUS teams. But at least our crossovers wil be tougher.

 

[Rob]

The organizers got what they wanted last year. At least two Nova Scotia teams in the semi-finals.

UQTR played good the first half of the game but could not get anything going the second half. A little small and easily knocked off the puck by SMU. Took some time for the Huskies to get their legs. Tomorrow's matchup against UNB is going to be competitive. VReds should win but Huskies are at least the third best team in the AUS. Had a tough fist half due to injuries.

I might be underrating Saskatchewan but I just can't see them beating X. Unless Cooke steals the game.