Clinching First

Last week saw the boys in three games, a 2oth memorial game, a possibility to clinch first place, and a chance at the 20 win plateau.

Wednesday night was my first time as a VRed in the Mark Jeffrey Memorial Game. For the past 20 years the VReds have payed honor to Mr. Jeffrey who played and coached for UNB. The pre-game ceremony saw Mark's father Jim and Jim's grandsons Mark and Sam deliver the Mark Jeffrey Memorial Award to co-winners Luke Gallant and Jon Harty.

In a great game by the boys, and in honor of Mark Jeffrey, the Reds dominated the STU Thommies in a 41 shot 5-0 victory. Shayne Wiebe's laser beam of a breakaway goal hi-lighted the game, while Fully backstopped the boys with a 14 save shutout.

In preparation for a big test on Friday, we hit the bus a day early to Charlottetown for our game against the UPEI Panthers. Heading out a day early proved to pay off well, as the guys dominated the Panthers to a 4-1. Not without a few scares, Fully was there sharp as usual to turn away some of the Panthers great scoring opportunities. Nezzy and Carroll connected a couple nice passes to find Nick MacNeil all alone on a breakaway who put a nifty shot high to the left side and in to cap off the game.

While in PEI Jordan Clendenning and a few guys and I came across this little fellow in the parking lot of a gas station/ McDonald's in the city. Seemed like and odd spot for a fox to be, and he had a broken front leg as well. Hopefully he enjoyed the snacks the McDonald's workers were giving him!

Back home for the final game of the season against the Moncton Aigles Bleus with another loud section of elementary school kids screaming, we went on to cap off the regular season with a 4-1 win. Ty Carroll buried two goals to finish off a real hot weekend. A few awards were dished our before the game started as well. Clendenning, Stamler and Culligan all received the Ross 'Punch" Walker Memorial Merit Award while Ben Wright scooped up the Mike Cavanagh Memorial Merit Award.

With our 20th win of the season on Saturday night, we finish off the regular season in 1st place in the AUC and get rewarded with a well deserved week off here while the first round of playoffs start this coming up weekend.

Should be a nice week off for the guys here as we wait to see who we will face off against in our first round. A couple of days away from the rink is nice to replenish the tanks, then get back on the ice and in the gym in preparation for our playoff match up.

Countdown to CIS National Championships: 37 days

Coming up this week on the blog: a few of my beauty of the week selections, and some good twitter accounts to follow!