Axemen Weekend Roundup

All good things must come to an end.

story from Justin Halbersma of openingfaceoff.net

The Acadia Axemen traveled through New Brunswick this past weekend, taking on the UNB Varsity Reds on Friday and the Moncton Blue Eagles on Saturday. A possible four points were up for grabs. The Axemen managed one.

Their five game winning streak came to a premature end against the Varsity Reds, as Acadia fell 5-3 to UNB. In a back-and-forth affair, it was ultimately decided late in the third as the Reds capitalized on some sloppy play in the Acadia end to seal the game with a shorthanded marker.
Thomas Nesbitt scored twice for the Reds in what could be a playoff preview. Phillipe Maillet, Chris Culligan, and Cam Critchlow all added singles. Mike Cazzola, Liam Heelis, and Tyler Ferry replied for Acadia.

Acadia’s Evan Mosher stopped 25 of 30 shots in the loss. Charles Lavigne stopped 26 of 29 Acadia shots for UNB.

Stinging from this defeat, the Axemen took to the ice in Moncton on Saturday evening. At first, it appeared as though the Blue Eagles would run Acadia right out of the rink. At the end of a disastrous first period for Acadia, the score read 4-1 Moncton. The barrage left Axemen starting goalie Brandon Glover pulled in favor of Evan Mosher, and left the Axemen looking dazed and confused. The Eagles took full advantage of the lack of Axemen discipline, scoring three times on the power play in the first.

For the first ten minutes of the second, the Blue Eagles played Acadia to perfection, not allowing Acadia to gain any momentum. Acadia scored on their own power play to trim the lead to 4-2. Then, less than two minutes later, the lead was further reduced to 4-3 with a great second effort by Liam Heelis.

Acadia had seized all the momentum. It took all of five minutes into the third for Acadia to tie the score 4-4, going to show that no lead is safe in hockey. Less than five minutes after that, Acadia took the lead 5-4.

But penalty trouble once again proved to be Acadia’s undoing, as Moncton scored their fourth power play goal of the night to tie the game and send it to overtime. There, it took all of 1:55 for Moncton to salvage the win, rescuing victory from the jaws of defeat.

Steve Lebel, Pier-Antoine Dion, Pierre Durepos, Alex Emond, Remi Blanchard, and Alex Saulnier all scored for Moncton. Adrian Lemay stopped 36 of 41 shots for Moncton.

Michael Clarke scored twice for Acadia, with Leo Jenner, Liam Heelis, and Travis Gibbons adding singles. Brandon Glover didn’t fare well in the Acadia net, allowing four goals before giving way to Evan Mosher, who allowed two. Acadia outshot Moncton 41-26 overall.

Acadia looks to regroup next weekend as they travel to Dalhousie to take on the Tigers on January 24, followed by a home game vs St. FX on Saturday. Both games are at 7:00 pm.

Don’t forget to follow your Axemen on www.austv.ca and www.acadiaaxemenhockey.com. You can also follow game action via twitter, at @axemenhockey and @openingfaceoff.