UNB Coming To Harbour Station In December

The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds hockey team will make a rare appearance at Harbour Station in December.

UNB announced this morning that they will host the Russian Red Stars - a team made up of all-stars from the MHL (Russia's equivalent of the Canadian Hockey League) - in the 8th annual Peterbilt New Brunswick Pete Kelly Challenge. The first of two games will be played in Saint John on Sunday, December 30 while the second will be held at the Aitken University Centre in Fredericton on New Year’s Eve.

From the Varsity Reds website:

The two games will be played against the backdrop of the 40th anniversary of the most famous hockey series of all time -- the 1972 Canada-Russia Hockey Summit -- along with the annual Montreal Canadiens vs. Russian Red Army games on New Year's Eve. This will be the third annual trip to North American for Team Russia.  Prior to meeting the V-Reds, they will play two games against NCAA Providence College Friars and a pair of contest against the NCAA RPI Red Hawks. It will be UNB's first international experience against a Russian team although they have had several players play in various international hockey events.

Tickets for the Harbour Station game – which will feature a 3pm start time – go on sale tomorrow morning. Tickets range from $18 to $12.50.

UNB features several former Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Canadian Hockey League stars in Nick MacNeil, Cameron Critchlow, Matt Fillier, Ben Shutron, Chad Denny and many others. The team also features former Sea Dogs goaltender Travis Fullerton who spent one-and-a-half seasons in Saint John. Fullerton, arguably the best netminder in Sea Dogs history, helped Saint John reach the QMJHL semi-final for the first time in 2007-08.

Anytime UNB plays a big time opponent it is worth going to. It’s hard to say what kind of crowd this event will get with the Sea Dogs playing just up the highway in Moncton that same afternoon.

On a side note, there is a ridiculous amount of sporting events at Harbour Station in December.