Press Release

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Hockey Aigles Bleus on the road this week

Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus take to the road towards Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Wednesday for an Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey game.

The Aigles Bleus (7-10-1=15 points, tied for 5th position) will meet the Saint Mary’s University Huskies (8-8-1=17pts, 4th position) at the Forum for the first game of the second semester. A victory will enable the Aigles Bleus to climb to fourth place with the Halifax team. Moncton has won its last two games and went from 7th to 5th place before the holiday break.

Forward Carl Marois and defensemen Sébastien Gauthier should be in the lineup for the second semester. Both missed the first because of injuries.

"To qualify for the playoffs remains our number one priority," said coach Serge Bourgeois. "That will be our focus and also help our two new players to integrate our system. Newcomer forward Carl Marois will play on the second line with Steve Lebel and Robbie Graham. Marois can help our offensive push. He is a good skater with a great shot. The Huskies have progressed this season, they are aggressive and can pressure our forwards. Our aim is to win and we need to keep things simple."

The co-captain twins, Allain and Alex Saulnier, will be playing their last semester of university hockey and they aim to make it to the playoffs. "This is our last university semester and we have a placement with no courses," said Allain. "It will be different not being in class. The second semester always goes by quickly; we want to take it all in. This could be our last competitive hockey games. The first semester ended on a positive note and we need to take off from there. With two new players, we need to have a lot better performance than our October start. All two standings points are important. All teams are close in the standings and it is a race for the playoffs. On the ice, we will have to be ready and execute well."

Alex Saulnier does not want to think too much of his last semester. He indicates this is a new season for the Aigles Bleus. "Each game is important, we did well in our last games and that has given us more confidence," said Alex. "We have a large number of road games this semester and we know it will not always be easy. We need to find ways to win. We did have a few road victories before the holidays. Against the Huskies, the games are rough and intense. All the teams are still in the playoffs and this is a good first challenge for us."

In brief… Brandon Thibeau will be the goaltender… forward Joël Blanchard is back in the lineup after missing the last games… Moncton has 12 games remaining in the regular schedule until Feb. 10, with only four at home… Allain Saulnier is the leading AUS scoring leader with 33 points (4-29), one more than Philippe Maillet of the Varsity Reds… the first line of the Saulnier twins and U Sports leading scorer, Jean-François Plante, will remain intact.



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