Saturday night, the SFU men’s hockey team was up against the University of Victoria, a team they had beaten twice already in the season. At stake was maintaining first place in the BCIHL.
If SFU lost and Selkirk won their game, the Clan would move down to second. Goals from Brandon Tidy and Tyler Basham ensured the victory, as SFU won the game 2–1, pummeling goalie Scott Legault with 47 shots.
“It was one of our better offensive performances, which is bizarre when you only score two goals,” said Head Coach Mark Coletta after the game. “I thought our puck possession was really good in the offensive zone, [our] attacking with speed was good, our dumps were pretty, our forecheck was pretty good [. . .] obviously over 40 shots is always a good thing, but I guess at the end of the day their goalie played well and they limited us to two goals.”
SFU got off to arguably the best start they could, with Brandon Tidy scoring just 32 seconds in, giving his team an early lead. Member of the BCIHL All Name Team Wolfgang Schoenefuhs scored for UVic to tie it at one point after a costly turnover by SFU in their own defensive zone. SFU recorded 26 shots on net in the first period alone — two more than they recorded in the whole game against Selkirk last week.
“It was weird, I just had all this time,” Tidy said afterwards on his goal. “I looked around and there was no one around me. So I skated to the net and just shot it in.”
The second period featured the eventual winning goal by Basham, and more shots by SFU. By the end of the second, the total was 39 for the Clan, compared to just 15 for the visitors. That was the only highlight from the last two periods, as it was a very slow game, despite all the shots. The third period had no goals and only one penalty, with Saylor Preston of SFU going off for slashing.
The victory assured the team would keep their top spot in the league, because Selkirk ended up winning their game 7–3 against Eastern Washington. It was the team’s seventh straight victory.
Coach Coletta spoke on what he believes the team has been doing well during the streak. “I think the guys are working really hard. There’s a good vibe in the room and during the week at practice. And I think we’re keeping it simple [. . . the] guys aren’t trying to do too much.”
