Axemen fall 3-2 to Saskatchewan, Ousted from Tournament

Final Curtain Falls On Acadia’s Hockey Season

Axemen goalie Evan Mosher looks to poke check Saskatchewan sniper Derek Hulak. Hulak scored on the play and Saskatchewan went on to take the game 3-2.

The Acadia Axemen needed to win their next game at the CIS National Championships to have a chance to move on to the championship game. The Axemen unexpectedly lost their opener, a 4-2 loss to the Windsor Lancers. A lack of team discipline helped in that loss, as the Lancers converted twice on the power play.

Their fate no longer in their own hands, the Axemen got set to face the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night. The hometown Huskies hadn’t played in a few weeks, and were raring to go. The Axemen needed a win to give themselves a chance…an Acadia win by three goals and a Lancers loss on Saturday would put the Axemen in good shape to reach the championship final.

The win never materialized. The Huskies stole the game in the last five minutes, scoring the winner at the 17:58 mark of the third, en route to a 3-2 win. The loss effectively ended the Axemen season.

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The Axemen opened the scoring on a goal by Liam Heelis, and all seemed well for Acadia. The Huskies found a way to tie it, then went ahead, on goals by Cody Smuk and a power play goal by Brennan Bosch. Acadia tied it in the second on a goal by Leo Jenner…and that was all they could muster, unable to solve Huskies netminder Ryan Holfeld. Holfeld turned aside 26 of 28 shots in the game.

The game remained tied until Derek Hulak found himself all alone in front of Acadia goaltender Evan Mosher. Hulak made no mistake, burying the game winner with only 2:02 remaining in the game.

Penalty trouble once again plagued the Axemen, as they inexplicably could not stay out of the box. Saskatchewan enjoyed nine power plays on the game, as Acadia’s discipline went out the window. Mosher did all he could to stem the tide, as the Huskies only scored once on nine attempts. But he didn’t get any goal support, and even though he turned aside 27 of 30 shots, it was in a losing cause.

The Acadia hockey season may have ended on a sour note, but they had a miraculous season. There is no reason to hang their heads, and the best news is their big line of Liam Heelis, Brett Thompson, and Mike Cazzola, should be returning next season, and hungry to improve on the results of this year’s tournament. The CIS championships will be held in Halifax next season, with St. FX the official host in 2015.

We at acadiaaxemenhockey.com thank you for your readership, and God willing, we’ll be bringing the same great coverage next season! Thank you for your support.

Game recap from Justin Halbersma of OpeningFaceoff.net