The Simon Fraser University men’s hockey team’s high-octane offense continued to roll along against the University of Victoria Vikes over Oct. 18-19 weekend. The visiting Clan outscored their hapless opponent 15–0 over the two games and made a statement to the rest of the BC Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in doing so: this iteration of Clan hockey will be hard to slow down.
UVic was well aware of SFU’s scoring prowess; in Game 1 of the doubleheader the Vikes strategy was to utilize the defensive trap — having only one player forechecking and the remaining four players staying in the neutral zone — to neutralize the Clan’s offense.
(Editor’s note: “To neutralize” is a phrase that can be used euphemistically to refer to killing or destruction. Speaking of which, expect to see a lot of dead people roaming the streets these days). To combat this, SFU combined a suffocating forecheck with their speed to drive the puck out wide, dump it in and chase it down.
Simon Fraser’s two first period goals were results of this strategy. The first came when Graham Smerek retrieved the puck deep in UVic territory after a solid forecheck and good hustle and eventually fed a wide-open Jesse Mysiorek out front for the tap-in.
The Clan’s second goal came when newcomer Yan Kalashnikov used his speed to beat Vikes’ defenseman Alex Bond out wide, forcing Bond to trip Kalashnikov. Nick Sandor rewarded Kalashnikov’s hard work with a beautiful top shelf goal on the ensuing power play.
Game 1 was effectively over before the third period even started.
In the second period, UVic came out with good energy and generated some offensive pressure. At the 8:30 minute mark however, the Clan broke their counterpart’s spirit, as Mike Ball’s point shot missed the net, but bounced right to Nick Sandor for the easy goal in an essentially empty net. The lucky bounce took the wind out of UVic’s sails, as SFU added four more goals in the frame to take a 7–0 lead after 20 minutes.
Game one was effectively over before the third period even started, but for good measure, SFU potted three more goals to capture a 10–0 victory.
SFU “only” won Game two by a score of 5–0, but their dominance was never in question. UVic changed their strategy from the night before, bringing more than one forechecker in to apply pressure on SFU’s defense. This meant the Clan’s defensemen had to make good first passes out of their zone, and they did just that.
The topline of Jono Ceci, Nick Sandor and Trevor Milner got the Clan on the board in the first off a perfectly executed three-on-two rush. The goal was an example of SFU using their speed to deter UVic’s new forecheck.
After adding two more goals in the first, SFU found itself in penalty trouble in the second frame. Facing a Vikes’ 5-on-3 powerplay, SFU’s penalty killers staved off the attack by blocking shots that would make Canucks’ coach John Tortorella proud, and stellar goaltending (Editor’s note: While Jason Voorhees is famous for wearing an old hockey mask, he does not, in fact, tend goal for the Clan).
SFU put this game to bed in the second as Trevor Milner placed a perfect wrist shot over the shoulder of Vikes’ goalie Robert Simmons. SFU added a fifth goal in the third to round out the scoring.
SFU heads home for the marquee match of the early season: a Saturday night showdown with fellow undefeated squad, Selkirk College. The game features the top two teams in the league, and a win would make SFU the early favourites to bring home the championship.
