Alberta beats P.E.I. hosts 4-1, go away ice with out handshake after star goalie sucker-punched
A lot for incomes a measure of revenge.
After falling to the provincial rival College of Calgary Dinos within the Canada West gold-medal recreation two weeks in the past, the fifth-seed College of Alberta Golden Bears kicked down the door to the U Sports activities males’s hockey nationwide championships with a convincing 7-0 win over the fourth-seed College of Windsor Lancers on Friday.
That set them up for what was anticipated to be Saturday’s semifinal showcase in opposition to the top-seed Dinos, who merely needed to get by an eighth-seed College of Prince Edward Island Panthers squad that made the College Cup by advantage of being its host.
Solely nobody bothered to elucidate that to the Panthers, who upset the No. 1 Dinos 4-2 in entrance of a raucous crowd at Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown, P.E.I., Friday evening to sprint the Bears’ hopes of any type of post-season redo in opposition to Calgary.
So, as a substitute Alberta set their sights on the Panthers. And there could be no home-ice benefit making the distinction this time round, because the Bears received 4-1 and can face the College of New Brunswick Reds on Sunday (4 p.m.).
Alberta began the identical means they did to start out the match at some point earlier, losing no time to open the scoring as Eric Florchuk took a cross from captain Matt Fonteyne and slid the puck between the pads of Jonah Capriotti simply 23 seconds in.
“We simply wished to return out sturdy,” Florchuk stated on the CBC broadcast. “We knew this was going to be a packed barn, being the hometown crowd they usually had been going to attempt bringing some vitality to the group. We simply wished to form of put a dent in that early and bought on the board early.”
Whereas Bears goalie Ethan Kruger stopped all eight pictures despatched his means within the first interval to make if 80 straight minutes of shutout hockey at nationals, he was aided by seven blocked pictures by his teammates, in addition to a stellar effort from defenceman Joel Sexsmith, who stretched out to chase down a cross on a two-on-one and break up a harmful alternative for P.E.I.
The second interval noticed the Bears go on a four-on-three man-advantage, after going a formidable five-for-three a recreation earlier. And this time, Fonteyne fired a one-timer previous the glove of Capriotti 1:46 into the body.
P.E.I. survived an ensuing five-on-three penalty kill, earlier than Bears ahead Nolan Volcan had a cross by Tyler Prezusio hit him within the again, earlier than spinning round and knocking it house to take a 3-0 lead into the third interval.
Tempers flared and Panthers defenceman Zac Beauregard jumped into Kruger within the crease, inflicting a scrum that ended with Beauregard sucker-punching Kruger within the face, knocking him to the ice and from the sport.
That left Matt Berlin — of Edmonton Oilers emergency backup goalie fame — coming in to interchange Kruger, who left after posting 104:24 of shutout hockey at nationals, whereas Alberta went on a four-minute energy play.
Preziuso stripped the puck from Conor MacEachern and went prime shelf previous Capriotti, nevertheless it was MacEachern ending the Bears’ shutout streak with 2:49 left on the clock.
The Bears left the ice to a refrain of boos as they made their exit with out shaking arms with their opponent, which left the hometown broadcast crew flabbergasted, having apparently forgotten their beloved Panthers blatantly took out Alberta’s star goaltender.
BEARS VOLLEYBALL
The reigning males’s volleyball nationwide champions received’t get an opportunity to defend their title Sunday.
As an alternative of going through the Trinity Western College Spartans in a rematch of the Canada West remaining that went Alberta’s means heading into the U Sports activities match because the No. 1 seed, the Golden Bears will play for bronze after falling in straight units (25-18, 25-20 and 25-XX) to the fourth-seed Université de Sherbrooke Vert et Or in Saturday’s semifinal spherical at McMaster College in Hamilton, Ont.
Trailing 16-9 out of the gate, Alberta battled again to path 17-14 after making a change at setter from Cam Kern to rookie Luke Weddell. However that was as shut as they’d get as Sherbrooke took the primary set 25-18.
Sherbrooke took a 13-8 lead within the second, however Alberta pushed once more, closing to inside 15-14 on an ace by U Sports activities MVP Jordan Canham, earlier than the Vert et Or referred to as a timeout to regroup and declare a 25-20 win.
Alberta took their first lead of the evening on the way in which to a 15-9 benefit within the third set, however Sherbrooke stormed again to tie it 16-16. The Vert et Or bought again on prime, 22-21, earlier than placing it away with three extra factors.
The Bears will face the hometown Marauders in Sunday’s bronze-medal recreation (1 p.m.), whereas Sherbrooke will face the Canada West silver medalist Trinity Western College Spartans over gold (4 p.m.).