2000 AUAA Championship and CIAU Appearance

Regular Season

UNB started off slow and the local Press had jumped onto Coach Coolen's back - critizing his methods. The team finished the first half with a 9-5 record, but finished strong with three wins at home over DAL, Acadia and PEI before loosing on the road to UdeM.

The second half was a constant battle for UNB - with STU out in front, UNB was battling UdeM for second and home ice advantage against the Blue Eagles in the first round as the Panthers were no where to be seen. Two Shoot-out victories on the road against DAL and Acadia, in games 22 and 23, kept UNB within 3 of UdeM with 3 games to play (two of which were in-hand over UdeM) and one of which was against UdeM (UdeM's only remaining game). UNB needed to beat UdeM in their head-to-head match and win one of their other two games. A loss to UdeM would relegate them to third and a tie plus 2 other victories would also relegate them to third as UdeM would have a better head-to-head record.

A loss to STU in game 24 would require UNB to win both of their remaining games. Game 25 was against UdeM, a must win for the VReds. UNB had a 2-1 lead at one point before UdeM tied the game in the third. UNB had to win in regulation as UdeM would receive at least one point regardless of a tie or OT/SO loss. A late period penalty by Graham Schlender put UNB behind the '8' ball, but a Moncton penalty soon followed and the two sides were square at 4-4. With Ken Carroll off for the extra attacker - UNB had a 5-on-4 empty net man-advantage. A wrap-around by Peter McKeller failed, but the puck ended up going to the point where Colin Beardsmore sent a wrist shot to the top shelf for the game winning goal with 12 seconds left. This put UNB 1 point behind UdeM and a victory over UPEI two nights later in game 26 lifted UNB into sole ownership of second place and home ice advantage in the first round. UNB had climbed back into the rankings, 10th, by beating UdeM and PEI in their last two games.

 Rk MacADAM DIV     GP  W   L  OL   F   A   P
  4 STU             26 18   8  2  128  96  38
 10 UNB             26 15  11  0   99  93  30
    Moncton         26 14  12  1  115 110  29
    UPEI            26  5  20  4   72 121  14

 Rk KELLY DIV       GP  W   L  OL   F   A   P
  6 SMU             26 18   8  5  118  82  41
  9 St. FX          26 15  11  5  103  85  35
    Acadia          26 13  13  2   80  82  28
    DAL             26  5  21  5   71 114  15

Playoffs

MacAdam Div. Semi-Final, AUAA Quarter Final

Round One - UNB vs UdeM, Win Series 2-0
UNB had betten UdeM in their second last game of the season and a final game victory over UPEI propelled UNB to second place in the MacAdam Division - one point ahead of UdeM. This gave UNB home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The first game, at the AUC, had 4 lead changes before UNB tied the game with 5 minutes left forcing overtime. Colin Beardsmore scored in the second overtime with a slap shot from the left wing. Game two, in Moncton, was a close checking game with few opportinutes. UNB took the lead early in the third period and went on to a 3-0 shutout win for Ken Carroll and a 2-0 series win.

MacAdam Div. Finals, AUAA Semi-Finals

Round Two - UNB vs STU, Win Series 2-1
The playoff 'Battle of the Hill' was certainly a big event with game one selling out in 40 minutes. STU had won their series against UPEI in two straight gaems (9-2 & 5-2). Few gave UNB a chance against the division leader and #4 in the country. STU won game one 6-2 and took a 1-0 series lead into the AUC on Thursday (Games were scheduled for Tue/Thur & Sat - game 2 was to be played on Friday at the AUC, but the annual NB Highschool basketball tournament was on this weekend). Ryan Naismith scored with 50 seconds left in the first overtime period to even the series for the VReds and force game three at the LBR on Saturday. Game three was a complete turn of events for STU - UNB jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first and eventually ended the game with a 7-0 victory shutout for Ken Carroll and series victory for UNB.

AUAA Finals

Round Three - UNB vs Acadia, Win Series 3-1
The AUAA finals pitted Kelly/MacAdam rivels UNB and Acadia with Acadia having home ice advantage in the best of five series. Two years earlier, UNB had beaten Acadia in a best of 3 series, with Home ice advantage, in two straight games. UNB would go on to beat Acadia again in the CIAU finals that year. Acadia scored two goals in the third period of game one, in Fredericton, to break a 2-2 tie and win 4-2, taking a 1-0 series lead. Game two followed the next day with UNB winning game two. UNB was down one goal beginning the third, but tied and took a two goal lead on 3 straight goals. Acadia responded with a goal of their own, but it wasn't enough and UNB won 5-4.

Games 3 & 4 were held in Wolfville. UNB trailed by one goal with 2 minutes left before Peter MacKellar scored on a slap shot and forced overtime - Joe Bouvier scored late in the second overtime period to give UNB a 3-2 win and a 2-1 series lead. Game four ended up a mirror image of game three, with a minute left before Joe Bouvier tied the game with a slap shot from the high slot. Later in the second overtime period Colin scored the game, and series winner, with a low shot from the left wing that slipped under the goalies right pad.

Cardiac Kids

After the AUS Finals, UNB was being called the 'Cardiac Kids', having won a regular season OT game and three regular season shoot-outs in four OT chances. Added to this was four playoff come-from-behind OT wins and the late game heroics versus UdeM in game #27 to win in regulation. These expereinces would help UNB at nationals.

CIAU Finals - U. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon - Saskatchewan

The CIAU Finals were wrapping up there stay in Saskatoon - this being the third year of a three year contract. The University of Saskatchewan would again be the hosts. The format for this year's tournament would be unchanged as in 1997/98. Six teams would be invited and they would play in two 3 team pools. Each pool would be a round robin tournament with the best team advancing into the final from each pool.

The three traditonal conference winners would be invited along with, the OUA Runner-up, the host school U. of Saskatchewan and one wild-card. The wildcard would be chosen once from each conference over the three years of the tournament with the third year's choice coming from the CWUAA/GPAC.

The pools were divided as equally as possible. Pool 'A' would include the host, CIAU #1 and CWUAA Champion USask Huskies, #4 AUAA Champions UNB and #5 OUA Runner-up Western Mustangs. Pool 'B' would include #2 OUA Champions UQTR, #3 CWUAA Runner-up Alberta and #6 CWUAA Wild-card Calgary (note: since USask is the host and CWUAA Champion, the CWUAA runner-up, Alberta, takes the place of the CWUAA Champion).

UNB vs Western - CIAU Pool 'A' Game 1, Won 3-2 OT1

UNB outshot Western 42-21, but Western was able to tie the game midway through the third and hold off UNB's charge late in the game. OT was nothing new for UNB and Colin scored a pretty goal by deaking the two defencemen as well as the goalie in the early minutes of the first OT period.

UNB vs USask - CIAU Pool 'A' Game 3, Won 5-4 OT2

This would be the deciding game for pool 'A' - the winner would go onto the CIAU finals. USask had lost their pervious two game 2's to AUAA teams in the past two years of national apperiances. UNB had a three goal lead in the first. That lead had been cut by one at the end of the first. UNB had a two goal lead in the second period before USask scored twice to tie the game before the end of the period. USask took the lead midway through the third and with a UNB penalty at the 18:00 minute mark - things look doomed. A resulting USask penalty squared things up and with Ken Carroll on the bench, Colin scored the tieing goal to force overtime with 27 seconds left. Darrren Shakotko scored a powerplay goal late in the second OT period to win the game for UNB and send them to the finals against Alberta.

Once again UNB had found a way to force OT and win another game - their 4th OT win in a row.

UNB vs Alberta - CIAU Finals, Loss 5-4 OT2

UNB looked to be outmatched by Alberta in the first period being out shot 15-4 and out scored 1-0. It was unclear whether the late game the previous night was having an affect on the team. UNB tied the game early in the second only to have Alberta come back in the next shift and regain the lead. Later in the period Alberta extended their lead. It was at this point that UNB showed life - with 3 straight goals in a span of 3 minutes - taking the lead into the third period. Alberta tied the game early in the final frame where it ended 4-4. There were chances for both teams to win the game in overtime, but at the end of the second overtime Alberta capitalized on a pinch behind the net to create a 1-on-goalie situation that saw CIAU Player of the Year, Russ Hewson, score over the shoulder of Ken Carroll. UNB's OT luck had run out.

Tournament All-Stars

Colin Beardsmore (Forward) and Darren Shakotko (Defence) were voted to the All-Tournament team.

Material gathered from articles printed in the Daily Gleaner and The Brunswickan j