Acadia blue-liner Leo Jenner eyes big goal

Axemen veteran has chance to finish university career with national title

GLENN MacDONALD SPORTS REPORTERΒ  ChronicleHerald.ca
Published March 19, 2014 – 7:23pm
Last Updated March 20, 2014 – 1:18pm
Acadia defenceman Leo Jenner lifts the trophy after the Axemen won the AUS men’s hockey championship over the Saint Mary’s Huskies on March 10. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)
Acadia defenceman Leo Jenner lifts the trophy after the Axemen won the AUS men’s hockey championship over the Saint Mary’s Huskies on March 10. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

It took until Leo Jenner’s fourth β€” and likely final β€” Atlantic university hockey season to earn a trip to nationals.

The Acadia defenceman and his Axemen were close twice before. Last season and in 2011, all they had to do was reach the conference championship and they would’ve punched their tickets to nationals either as the AUS champion or as a wild card. But each time they lost in the semifinals, falling a game short.

This season, they earned it. The CIS No. 2-ranked Axemen captured their first AUS banner in eight years to advance to the University Cup, which opens Thursday in Saskatoon.

β€œThis was the hardest year for the Atlantic conference to do it,” said Jenner, a six-foot-four, 225-pound stay-at-home blue-liner.

β€œThere were a couple times where all we had to do was make it to the AUS final. This year, we had to take the hard route by winning the whole thing just to get to the (CIS).

β€œIt’s definitely more fulfilling to actually win something. We didn’t want the handout.”

Throughout the 2013-14 campaign, the Axemen were neck-and-neck with defending national champion UNB before finishing four points back of the Varsity Reds in the final standings.

Though it looked as if UNB and Acadia were on a collision course to meet in the AUS final, the V-Reds were ousted in the semifinals by Saint Mary’s. The Axemen, in turn, defeated the Huskies in four games in the final.

β€œAt the beginning of the year, we didn’t really know what we had,” said Jenner, who’s studying kinesiology at Acadia. β€œWe lost the second game of the year, we were at .500 after the first weekend but we still knew we had a good team.

β€œIt was a good showdown with UNB for first and after that we just kept it going. Unfortunately we didn’t get first place but luckily for us, Saint Mary’s took care of them.”

Jenner is one of five players in their fourth season at Acadia (defencemen Cullen Morin and Chris Owens and forwards Dustin Ekelman and Joe Gaynor are the others). Head coach Darren Burns is thrilled they finally get their shot at a national title.

β€œIt’s great to see guys get this opportunity,” Burns said. β€œThey have been an extremely loyal group, Leo included. It’s a good feeling to watch how everything has come to fruition and seeing the guys enjoy it all.”

β€œIt’s a great way to finish a university career,” Jenner added.

Acadia opens Thursday night against the third-ranked Windsor Lancers (10 p.m. AT). The loser faces the host and No. 5 Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday (10 p.m.) while the winner will play Saskatchewan on Saturday night (10 p.m.).

Jenner expects loads of support from the Annapolis Valley and at least one follower in Columbus, Ohio. His younger brother is Boone Jenner, a rookie forward with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets.

β€œAnnapolis Valley follows us big time; we have a great following,” Jenner said. β€œI really love this area. The kids absolutely love us; they really look up to us.”

β€œBoone gave me a call when he had a day off and congratulated me on making nationals,” added Jenner, four years older than Boone. β€œHe’s looking at a playoff push with Columbus so it’s an exciting time with the Jenner family.”

The other pool features the top-ranked Alberta Golden Bears (25-2-1 during the regular season, 4-0 in the playoffs), the No. 4 McGill Redman and sixth-seeded Carleton Ravens.

The pool winners will advance to the CIS gold medal game Sunday afternoon (4:30 p.m. AT). Sportsnet 360 will broadcast live both Saturday’s games while the championship game will be carried live on Sportsnet.