SMU wins 2-1, Acadia leads series 2-1

Saint Mary’s Fends Off Elimination With Game 3 Win

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The Acadia Axemen walked into the Halifax Forum Sunday with a chance to wrap up the AUS Conference championship series.

They will walk in Monday with a chance to do the same.  The Saint Mary’s Huskies gritted out a 2-1 win behind their goaltender, Anthony Peters, and his stellar play.  Peters stopped 23 of 24 shots, many of them the difficult kind.  The Huskies jumped on their goalie’s back as he carried them to victory.

This game had all the explosive potential of a spark in a keg of dynamite.  The two teams have developed a definite playoff hatred for one another, as evidenced by the combined 118 penalty minutes they recorded.

There was a scary moment in the game, as Geoff Schemitsch took a vicious hit along the boards and was unable to get off the ice under his own power.  There was no word on his condition going into Game 4.

Lucas Bloodoff got the festivities started for Saint Mary’s in the second as he scored on a rebound off Acadia goaltender Evan Mosher.  Mosher, forced into a great save, could only watch as the rebound squeaked away from him and Bloodoff buried it.  Mosher recorded 18 saves of his own in the contest, almost matching Peters save for save.

In the third, Stephen Johnson of Saint Mary’s buried another rebound on a five on three advantage to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.  With Peters seemingly stopping everything, Acadia looked to be heading meekly to a Game 4.

Not so fast.  Michael Clarke of Acadia beat Peters with 3:33 left in the third, bringing the Acadia crowd to life and lighting a fire under the Axemen.  With time ticking down, the Axemen swarmed Peters, but despite several close calls, were unable to beat Peters and he carried his Huskies to a 2-1 and bringing them back in the series.

Game 4 goes tonight in Halifax.  You can follow all the action on www.austv.ca and on AVR (97.7FM) with Len Hawley’s expert play by play.  You can also follow in game live tweets at @axemenhockey and @OpeningFaceoff.  Game time is 7:00pm.

Game story by Justin Halbersma of OpeningFaceoff.net