Murray's two-goal effort paces Mariners to home ice win over SFU

Alex Hanson's power-play tally late in the second period gave Vancouver Island University a lead after 40 minutes, and the Mariners scored two more goals in the third to skate to a 5-2 home ice victory over Simon Fraser University on Saturday night at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.

VIU opened the scoring in the first period when blueliner Garrett Murray scored his third goal of the season, but a back-and-forth second saw SFU sandwich goals from Eric Callegari and Mac Colasimone around Murray's second of the night.

Hanson put the Mariners out in front with an unassisted tally with 2:22 remaining in the period, and Gavin Rauser and Ronnie Wilkie each netted insurance markers in the third period.

VIU outshot the Clan by a 45-28 margin on the night, thanks in large part to a 33-16 advantage through two periods. Jeremy Balyk picked up the win in goal for the home side with a 26-save performance, while Andrew Henderson was handed his first loss of the season for SFU despite a 40-save effort that included second star honours.

With the win, the Mariners move to 4-4-0-2 and jump past Selkirk College into second place in the BCIHL standings with 10 points, while SFU drops to 3-3-0-1 and sits in fourth place with seven points.

The Clan are back in action next Saturday when they host the University of Victoria in Burnaby. VIU will have a bye weekend before visiting SFU for a pair of road games on November 22 and 23.