Presenting Partners

Saint Mary’s Huskies Defenceman Justin Wallingford made an instant impact as he returned to the line up after missing three games with a shoulder injury.

The 6’6 rearguard scored a pair of goals and added two assists as the Huskies beat their cross-city rivals the Dalhousie Tigers 6-4 in aggressive game Saturday night at the Halifax Forum.

“It was definitely one of my better games in the CIS. I don’t remember many games where I had four points, other than maybe tyke hockey,” said Wallingford.

The Huskies made Dalhousie goalie Wendell Vye’s life very difficult for most of the game. Vye had to deal with a crowded crease for most of the night as the Huskies made sure to get lots of traffic in front of the DAL net. Both of Wallingford’s goals came from the point and beat a screened Vye on the glove hand side.

“On the first goal it was just a floater of a shot I just wanted to throw it towards the net and the next thing I know, it hit off of someone and went in. The next one was on a 5-on-3, we were working the puck around and I just fired a one-timer far side,” said Wallingford.

With the Huskies up 2-1 in the first period Saint Mary’s leading scorer Cory Tanaka took it upon himself to throw some fuel on the fiery rivalry between the two teams with an explosive hit to the head of Tigers forward Shea Kewin. Tanaka was given a five minute penalty for checking to the head and a game misconduct.

Tigers coach Chris Donnelly says he hopes the league will take a look at the hit to see if a suspension is warranted.

“I’m sure the league will have a look at it. It was a real cheap shot. It’s unfortunate that that stuff still exists. Kewin was a defenseless player with his back to the play and he (Tanaka) leaves his feet and delivered an elbow to the back of the head,” said Donnelly.

Kewin would stay on the bench for the rest of the first period and not return for the rest of the game. The Tigers would fail to capitalize on the five minute power-play and the Huskies would add a goal late in the first to lead 3-1. Saint Mary’s would score a pair of power-play goals in the second to build up a 5-2 lead as the chippy game headed into the 3rd period.

Huskies forward Chris MacKinnon scored 2:33 into the third to make it a Huskies lead, 6-2. The third period continued with neither team paying much attention to the puck and taking runs at each other trying to land a big hit.

The intensity finally boiled over at the 15:26 mark of the third when DAL’s Daniel Bartek was called for charging after he ran hard into Huskies goalie Anthony Peters. A scrum ensued with Wallingford being sent to the showers early with ten minute misconducts.

“I like a chippy game, and these playoff type games are perfect for me. I just hope next time I can stay out of the box a little more. It’s tough to stay calm in that situation because you obviously want to protect your goalie. It’s important to stay calm and not get any suspensions especially this time of year. So I thought we did a good job and got away with minors, tens and no suspensions, that’s the positive thing,” said Wallingford.

After a delay to straighten out penalties the Tigers put together a bit of a comeback with two goals a 1:10 apart. Narrowing the gap to 6-4, but it was too little too late as the Huskies picked up the win on home ice.

Wallingford was named player of the game for Saint Mary’s and Anthony Peters made 27 saves in net for his 6th win of the season. With the win the huskies have clinched a playoff berth.

Wendell Vye made 28 saves in a losing effort for the Tigers and forward Pierre-Alexandre Vandall continued his recent hot-streak with two goals and an assist. Vandal has scored 10 points in his last four games. The tigers remain one point behind St. FX for the final playoff spot.

The Huskies are at home next weekend playing host to the St. Thomas Tommies and Universitie de Moncton.

The Tigers hit the road to play UPEI and UNB.

This page last modified Thursday, 19-Apr-2012 10:36:10 ADT