AUS 2015-16 Regular Season Thread

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Doesn't the AUS Finals need to be over at least a week before the UCup begins? That would mean the latest it could get over is Wednesday or Thursday....not much difference really.

If both series end tonight I could see them go Friday/Sunday/Tuesday...or perhaps Saturday/Monday/Wednesday. I would think they would want to get at least one game on a Friday or Saturday night...although as we have seen many times, the AUS doesn't always make sense when it comes to that kind of thing.

So of course the AUS Final will begin on Monday (according to UNB Hockey Twitter)....assuming it will be a M/W/F schedule.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

A lot of people thought Mad Max got off lightly back in January so it will be interesting to see how the always interesting ( to be kind ) AUS Disciplinary Review handles his latest performance.

4 games apparently

 

[Rob]

Huge comeback for X tonight. Down 3-0 six minutes in but end up winning 4-3.
They punch the last ticket from the AUS for the Nationals.

Have to admit I was rooting for the Huskies because I wanted to see UPEI get a chance at making it.

 

[AUS Fan]

So of course the AUS Final will begin on Monday (according to UNB Hockey Twitter)....assuming it will be a M/W/F schedule.

Yup. I'll be at SFX for game 2.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I watched the last two periods tonight and even though SMU was up 3-2 at the time I never really felt like X was in any danger of losing...it was only a matter of time before they took the lead. From what I saw the Huskies didn't generate much offensively and didn't look particularly dangerous the last 40 minutes.

 

[AUS Fan]

I watched the last two periods tonight and even though SMU was up 3-2 at the time I never really felt like X was in any danger of losing...it was only a matter of time before they took the lead. From what I saw the Huskies didn't generate much offensively and didn't look particularly dangerous the last 40 minutes.

I agree. I was thinking the same thing: Just a matter of time. SFX ramped it up after getting 2 PP goals.

 

[Drummer]

UPDATED
Drummer - 1pt
Red Army - 2pts
UNB Bruins Fan - 2pts
Rob - 2pts

SMU in 5
UNB in 3

2pts for the correct team in this round - 1 bonus point for the series & 1 bonus point if the clincher is won in OT.

Rob - 2 plus 2+1 & 2 = 7pts
Drummer - 1 plus 2+1 & 0 = 4pts
UNB Bruins fan -remains at 2pts
Red Army - remains at 2pts

For the finals - UNB in 2 (game 2 in OT)

3pts for the win, 2pts for the series and 1pt bonus if clincher is in OT

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I predicted UNB over PEI in 3 (3 points - 2 for team and 1 for length) + X over SMU in 5 (2 points for team). See post #172.
For the finals - UNB in 3

 

[Drummer]

UPDATED to include UNB Bruins fan.

Rob - 2 plus 2+1 & 2 = 7pts
UNB Bruins fan -2 plus 2+1 & 2+0 7pts
Drummer - 1 plus 2+1 & 0 = 4pts
Red Army - remains at 2pts

For the finals - UNB in 2 (game 2 in OT)

3pts for the win, 2pts for the series and 1pt bonus if clincher is in OT

 

[Rob]

Gotta take UNB over X in two. Not because I'm a homer but because it is the safest bet.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

So if everything goes to plan (ie/ all the favourites win) I could see the UCup looking like this:

#1 UNB vs. #8 Carleton
#4 Western vs. #5 Alberta

#2 UQTR vs. #7 SMU
#3 Saskatchewan vs. #6 St. FX

I could easily see UQTR/Sask flip-flopping depending on how they make out during the rest of the playoffs but either way, it's quite possible we are going to get some interesting match-ups that haven't happened in recent memory.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Iafrate

Does he miss the first 2 games of the AUS finals?

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

He should miss 3 I would think. He was ejected in game 3 and got a 4 game suspension I believe....so he has only served 1 game so far (game 4). Correct me if I wrong though...

 

[Drummer]

He should miss 3 I would think. He was ejected in game 3 and got a 4 game suspension I believe....so he has only served 1 game so far (game 4). Correct me if I wrong though...

You are correct - SFX needs the series to go 3 games for him to be eligible to play in their first game at UCup.

 

[Rob]

X with a hard fought 3-2 win in game one. They played an excellent playoff game. The first ten minutes the Vreds were all over them. Before you knew it was 2-0 X. They played very well defensively in their own zone and capitalized on their opportunities. VReds learned that they won't be scoring any easy goals like they did in their last series. Wednesday should be another great battle.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

X with a hard fought 3-2 win in game one. They played an excellent playoff game. The first ten minutes the Vreds were all over them. Before you knew it was 2-0 X. They played very well defensively in their own zone and capitalized on their opportunities. VReds learned that they won't be scoring any easy goals like they did in their last series.

I feel like I have heard this before with regards to a St FX/UNB series....

Despite the loss I am still pretty confident they can pull it out somehow on Wednesday and get it back here for a game 3. I am also a believer in the whole "don't want to go into Nationals on a long winning streak"...so it might not be a bad thing to get a loss out of the way now.

If X does win this series, their reward is most likely a date with Alberta in the 3/6 match-up at Nationals. UNB, on the other hand, will probably face the OUA runner-up in the 4/5 match-up.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

X

X-Men are very good in slowing down the speed game and dealing with a lot of puck pressure
Tonight they didn't do that, but they played very well in their own end and had one of the best performances from an AUS goalie, this year.
Owsley made many tough saves in close and played very well East-west.
UNB brought a ton of pressure early and late, but were stymied by Owsley. A couple of posts and a couple of cross bars, the bounces just didn't go the way of the home team.

 

[radapex]

Is there no delay of game penalty for purposely covering the puck in the defensive zone in the AUS? Everyone in my section was convinced X should've had a penalty with about 10 seconds left when their defender reached out, pulled the puck under him, and just laid there.

 

[Drummer]

Is there no delay of game penalty for purposely covering the puck in the defensive zone in the AUS? Everyone in my section was convinced X should've had a penalty with about 10 seconds left when their defender reached out, pulled the puck under him, and just laid there.

As a referee - if the player corrals the puck into their body when down, I would call a Delay-the-Game penalty. If it just happens to be in the neighborhood and ends up under him, than it's just bad luck and 'no call (this happens a lot, the player just happens to fall down and the puck is under him).

The bad luck for UNB was the down-low official was on the opposite side and probably had the net in the way. The back official is probably too far away and has too many bodies in the way to properly assess the situation.

Tough break, but you can't count on last second PP to win the game. UNB waited too long to get aggressive.

Similar to UNB-v-UWO in 2012, you can't wait until the last 5min to try and win the game. They had to start to play with more urgency sooner.

That said - a post and cross-bar away from tying the game (not to mention a goofy 2nd goal for SFX) and UNB would have had the lead.

Should be a good game on Wed.

And, being ranked 5th wouldn't really be that bad (play OUA #2, UWO/UQT) and advance to play winner of USK/SMU

 

[Rob]

If X does win this series, their reward is most likely a date with Alberta in the 3/6 match-up at Nationals.

Wow. What a prize that would be.

However, Peddle did say that they were not even mentioning the Nationals right now. I believe him. I don't think X has won the AUS title since 2004. That was the year they won it all.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Wow. What a prize that would be.

However, Peddle did say that they were not even mentioning the Nationals right now. I believe him. I don't think X has won the AUS title since 2004. That was the year they won it all.

Well, I don't think any team would "throw" a series because it might lead to a better draw at the UCup. You want to win every game, and if the draw doesn't quite work out as good as it could have if you had lost, so be it.

Whether UNB goes in at #1 or #5 they should be a fairly big favourite in their 1st round match-up.

 

[AUS Fan]

I saw most of the 2nd and all the 3rd on the web. All SFX goals had been scored by then. Not the same as watching live, but X looked pretty solid. I'll be at game 2 Wed night to have a closer look. I fully expect a game 3.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

X played very well. I thought overall UNB was the better team, but it wasn't as if St. FX "stole" a game they had no business of winning.

 

[AUS Fan]

Well, I don't think any team would "throw" a series because it might lead to a better draw at the UCup.

A UNB series win gets them the OUA Bronze winner. It seems strange to see UNB guys looking for a silver lining in a series loss. You are usually win, win, win.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

A UNB series win gets them the OUA Bronze winner. It seems strange to see UNB guys looking for a silver lining in a series loss. You are usually win, win, win.

I was looking at it more from the X perspective (my response may have been a bit confusing as I was making two completely separate statements unrelated to one another)...a loss and they probably go in #6 and face Sask. A win and they go in #3 and probably face #6 Alberta. I know Saskatchewan just beat the Bears, and maybe it just isn't Alberta's year, but I think I would still prefer the Huskies.

Yes, from a UNB perspective it would be much better to win and get the OUA 3rd place team. Of course, that would probably also put them in the same pool as Alberta. If they lose and go in #5 they get the OUA 2nd place and probably put in the same pool as Sask or UQTR/SMU.

Still a lot of different scenarios in play and probably not much point in speculating and over analyzing everything at this point. I am still confident in UNB coming back and winning this series.