Valade’s hat-trick leads Huskies to 7-5 win over Tigers

HALIFAX, NS – Saint Mary's forward Reid Valade – the U SPORTS leading goal scorer – kicked off 2026 with a bang, scoring a hat-trick in the Huskies 7-5 win over the Dalhousie Tigers in Atlantic University Sport men's hockey action on Saturday at the Dauphinee Centre in Halifax.

Just under seven minutes into the first, a Tigers powerplay opportunity expired, and Reid Valade (Caledon, ON) came off the Huskies bench and onto a breakaway off a feed from Ben Boyd (Dartmouth, NS), firing a low shot past Dalhousie goaltender Carter Richardson (Dartmouth, NS) to open the scoring, 1-0 for the Huskies.

The Tigers nearly equalized as forward Jonah Jelley (Stanley Bridge, PEI) and Ben Bujold (Ottawa, ON) broke out on a two-on-one, but Huskies goaltender Gage Alexander – making his debut with the team – made an awesome sliding save to keep SMU ahead.

But midway through the period the Tigers broke through, with a Brody Fournier (Perth, ON) shot being tipped in by Ben Bujold, tying the game at 1-1, 11:13 into play.

Dalhousie later took the lead, with a powerplay goal from Brody Fournier putting them ahead 2-1, 14:56 into the first.

The Huskies and Tigers each recorded nine shots on goal through the opening 20 minutes, but it was the Tigers who took a 2-1 lead into first intermission.

But Saint Mary's was able to equalize just over two minutes into the second period, as on a Tigers powerplay, Huskies captain Charlie Da Fonseca (Thornhill, ON) stole the puck and fired a shot wide, before getting his own rebound and finding defenceman Nolan Dillingham (Mississauga, ON) who fired a high shot that beat Richardson for his first career AUS goal, tying it at 2-2, 2:20 into the second period.

Several minutes later, the Huskies took the lead as Reid Valade found linemate Ben Allison (Halifax, NS) who deflected it high into goal for his 16th goal of the season, putting the Huskies ahead 3-2, 6:29 into the second.

But Dalhousie's powerplay struck again, as Ben Bujold scored his second goal of the day, this time on the powerplay, tying the game at 3-3, 15:58 into the second.

The Huskies outshot the Tigers 18-6 in the period, but the two teams went into second intermission tied 3-3.

Saint Mary's took the lead again less than two minutes into the third, as defender Connor Olson (London, ON) – playing in his 100th career regular season game as a Husky – slid a pass over to forward Dylan Andrews (Cole Harbour, NS), who unleashed a one-timer goal that beat Richardson high to put the Huskies up 4-3, 1:45 into the third period.

Minutes later, Tigers forward Colin MacDougall (Carlisle, ON) skated out on a breakaway, but was denied by a nice save from Gage Alexander.

Midway through the period, Reid Valade scored his second goal of the night, off a one-timer from Charlie Da Fonseca for his 20th goal of the campaign, extending the Huskies lead to 5-3, 12:14 into the third.

Dalhousie responded again, with Brody Fournier scoring his second goal of the night, but Reid Valade responded with an empty net goal to complete his hat-trick and restore the Huskies two goal lead, 6-4.

The Tigers still wouldn't go down without a fight, as they cut it to a one-goal game again off a goal from defenceman Ethan Martini (Trail, BC). But again Saint Mary's was able to get an empty net goal, this time from Ben Boyd, putting the finishing touches on the thrilling 7-5 victory.

The Huskies outshot the Tigers 45-25 on the day, with Gage Alexander stopping 20 shots for the win in his Saint Mary's debut, while Carter Richardson was outstanding, stopping 38 shots in defeat.

Reid Valade was named Player of the Game for the Huskies, scoring three goals and adding an assist. Ben Boyd (one goal, two assists), Ben Allison (one goal, two assists), Nolan Dillingham (one goal, one assist) and Charlie Da Fonseca (two assists) also recorded multi-point games for the Huskies. Valade (21 goals, 12 assists) and Allison (16 goals, 17 assists) are now tied atop the U SPORTS points leaderboard with 33 points each in 18 games played.

The Huskies win improves their record to 10-6-0-2 on the campaign, good for fourth place in the AUS standings. They'll be back on home ice on Wednesday, Jan. 7, hosting the STFX X-Men (7-9-0-2) at 7 p.m. at the Dauphinee Centre. GET TICKETS

The Tigers loss drops their record to 1-14-1-2 on the season. They'll hit the road on Monday, visiting the Acadia Axemen (11-3-1-3) at 7 p.m. at Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville, N.S.