The Brock Badgers men's hockey team fell 4-0 to the No. 1 seed UNB Reds in their U SPORTS championship quarter-final matchup on Thursday, March 14 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.

"I'm just really proud," said head coach TJ Manastersky after the game. "Our seniors who are graduating have been in this tournament two times, and they were part of the most successful period in Brock men's hockey."

First-year goaltender Connor Ungar stopped 41 of 44 shots and was named the Brock Badgers Player of the Game.

"It's really exciting. We have a great group at Brock," said Ungar. "We have a strong foundation from the guys leaving and good young guys who will continue to be here and make the program better."

UNB opened the period with a flurry of chances, with Ungar being tasked to get busy early. The Reds opened the scoring through Cody Morgan with just over six minutes played. Late in the first period, third-year forward Jacob Roach earned a chance in front of the Reds' goal, but goaltender Samuel Richard deflected the shot upwards. On a 5-on-3 power play, UNB doubled their lead on a goal from Kade Landry to take a 2-0 lead after one.  

In the middle frame, the Badgers pushed back on the pressure put on by UNB with chances of their own. Brock early in the second period earned a power-play opportunity, but a penalty on the Badgers ended the advantage early. Midway through the second period, Ungar pulled off a cross-crease save to prevent UNB from scoring their third goal. Brock grew into the period as time passed with first-year forward Riley Gannon coming close to finding the Badgers' first goal after a drive to the net, ultimately drawing a penalty. The Reds held on to their two-goal advantage after 40 minutes of play.

UNB's Benjamin Corbeil found the back of the net with just under three minutes left in the third period. He added an empty netter one minute later, sealing the contest. 

Manastersky spoke about the future of the team after a historic season. 

"We just want to be a team that's year in and year out in the national conversation. The next step for the program is to be one of the teams you see here regularly. This foundation is just the start, we believe there's more to come". 

The Badgers have generated a lot of momentum heading into the next season, finishing with a program-best 21 wins in the regular season and earning a record number of award winners and all-stars.