Selkirk College opens 2013 BCIHL Finals with shutout win over SFU

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Selkirk College opened the 2013 B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League finals with a bang on Friday, shutting out a high-scoring Simon Fraser University squad by a 2-0 score at the Nelson Community Complex.

The win gives the Saints a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series and the opportunity to capture the BCIHL title with another victory on Saturday.

A number of outstanding saves from Selkirk netminder Alex Sirard and SFU counterpart Graeme Gordon kept the game scoreless until late in the second period when blueliner Justin Sotkowy scored with a wrist shot through traffic on a Saints man-advantage.

And after waiting nearly 40 minutes to open the scoring, the hosts struck again on the power-play just over a minute later when Mason Spear banked a puck off of Gordon from behind the goal line to double the Selkirk lead.

The Saints held SFU to just four shots on goal in the third period and were foiled by Gordon on a number of opportunities to build their advantage. The SFU starter faced 29 shots on the night while Sirard made 23 saves to pick up his second shutout in three games this postseason.

"SFU has a highly-skilled team and we were able to hold them off the board tonight with a very good defensive effort, especially from Alex (Sirard)," says Saints head coach Jeff Dubois.

"He made a number of big saves, especially in the latter part of the second period before we finally got a couple past Gordon. The work ethic was great from top to bottom but we're going to need an even better performance in order to finish things off."

Game 2 is set for a 7:30 PM faceoff on Saturday night in Nelson. A third and deciding game, if necessary, would take place back at the Castlegar Complex on Sunday at 6:00 PM.