Tommies victorious in must win game

Rookie forward, Michael Beaudry with his first career CIS goal.

In AUS men's hockey action tonight at the GHC, the St. Thomas Tommies proved it isn't the way you start the game but how you finish it.  STU scored with under 2 minutes to play in the third for their first lead of the night plus scored an empty net goal to upend the Dalhousie Tigers 6 to 4.  Plain and simple this was a must win for the Tommies.

It was going to be an uphill battle right from the start, as Coach Powers was suspended after being ejected from last night's game vs. Acadia. Quade Lightbody took over behind the bench and watched as the Tigers out scored the Tommies  3 to 1 in the first period.  Felix Poulin (Orr, Cheremetiev) marked the only goal for the Tommies.

STU couldn't buy a goal for the first 14 minutes of the second period but when Michael Beaudry (Hannay) scored his first in Green and Gold at 14:03 things started to look up.  Matt Bissonnette, fresh out of the penalty box, went in and scored his first for the Tommies at 15:45, on a nice set up from Kody Orr to tie the game up.  The tie score would hold until the third period.

In the final frame Dalhousie scored early on the PP to regain the lead and the Tommies went down to having only  four defencemen.  Sawyer Hannay was ejected for having 3 stick infraction penalties and Ian Saab was ejected for fighting Brad McConnell.  The Tommies didn't give up and 1:45 after the Tigers went ahead, Alex Leduc (Orr, Cheremetiev) tied the game at 4:03.

The Tommies would get their first lead of the night at 18:03 as Felix Poulin scored his second of the night  and the game winner off a great pass from Michael Beaudry and Matt Bissonnette.  Alex Leduc would score his second on the night into the open net with 39 seconds to play with the only assist going to Jon Groenheyde.  Final shots on goal favoured the Tommies 29 to 24.

Quade Lightbody picked up his first CIS win as coach, while Kody Orr led the team with 3 points.  Next up for STU is UdeM on the road Friday and back home Saturday night versus UPEI.  Both games are huge for St. Thomas fighting for their playoff lives.

Tonight's game summary is compliments of our Friends at 6 Colour Copy, 830 Hanwell Road. 450-3028.

Rookie Forward, Matt Bissonnette scoring his first CIS goal.