Axemen warm up from the cold to win 7-2

Thompson leads the way with four points in the win

It was a cold night in the Halifax Forum on Friday night, where it felt more like a game being played outdoors than in; the Axemen took some time to warm up and find their game, but once they did it became a one sided affair as Acadia went on to win 7-2 over Dalhousie.

Brett Thompson led the way for the Axemen with a goal and three assists, while Michael Clarke chipped in with two goals.

Bobby Nadeau took the loss for Dal (2-18-1) surrendering all 7 goals on 42 shots, while Evan Mosher continued his strong play for the Axemen (16-2-3), stopping 30 of 32 shots.

The Axemen got on the board with just over 5 minutes left in the first period, when Dal’s Fabian Walsh went off for hooking. Acadia’s powerplay went to work with Mike Cazzola opening the scoring, with Brett Thompson and Liam Heelis picking up the helpers.

Dal came close to tying it up with three minutes remaining as Chris Ivanko came down the wing and rang a shot off the post, but the period ended with a 1-0 score.

The second period opened up with Joe Gaynor going off on a hooking call just 1:20 into the period. Dal again had a golden chance as third year forward Brad McConnell when a loose puck ended up on his stick to the side of the net with Axemen tender Evan Mosher down and out but McConnell shot the puck wide of the yawning net.

From that point on it was all Axemen. Liam Heelis knocked home a rebound off a shot from Brett Thompson to make it 2-0, with Chris Owens picking up the secondary assist; just seconds later, Michael Clarke got on the board on a nice play with Travis Randell and Travis Gibbons.

With just over 7 minutes remaining in the second period Brett Thompson came in over the blue line on a 1 on 3 and created a great scoring chance, drawing a hooking call to send the Axemen to the powerplay. Acadia took control with the man advantage with Leo Jenner tipping home a point shot from Owens to make it 4-0; Thompson picked up his third assist of the game with the secondary helper on the goal.

The game looked to be all but over as the Axemen came out in the third, but Dal showed some life as Fabian Walsh took a puck away from Acadia’s Colin Archer at the Dal blue line, that led to a tip in goal by Walsh on a slap pass from Brad McConnell; Chris Ivanko picked up the second assist on the play.

But the Axemen put a quick end to any daylight for Dal, as Owens was able to find Thompson, wide open to the left of Dal goalie Bobby Nadeau, where Thompson gave a head fake and went upstairs on the blocker short side to make it 5-1. Mike Cazzola picked up an assist as well.

Dal went back to the powerplay with just under 5 minutes remaining in the third as Scott Trask went off for a trip, but it worked in Acadia’s favor as goalie Evan Mosher shot the puck up the boards springing Joe Gaynor, who made no mistake beating Nadeau for a shorthanded marker.

Michael Clarke rounded out the scoring with his second goal of the game for Acadia with just over a minute left, but Dal was able to put one more on the board with under a minute to play as Andrew Langan found the back of the net.

The Axemen return home to take on the St. FX X-Men on Saturday night at 7pm at the Acadia Arena in Wolfville.