Acadia Wins 4-3 in Third Period Comeback

Axemen Knock off UPEI, Franko & Giftopolous with 3 pts each

The Acadia Axemen made it three wins in a row, with a 4-3 win over the UPEI Panthers in Charlottetown on Friday night. The Axemen used the third period to score 4 goals, to give them the comeback win, after trailing 2-0 after two period of play.

The Panthers all but owned the first period, firing 19 shots on net, to the Axemen’s 6. But Acadia second year goaltender Brandon Glover stood tall, stopping 18 of 19. Only Cole MacMillan was able to beat Glover, scoring at 14:07 of the first period. Matt Pufahl took a late interference penalty in the first period that carried over into the second, where the Panthers added to their lead with a powerplay marker from Chris Desousa just 20 seconds into the period. That was all for the scoring in the session, as Acadia matched their first period total of 6 shots, but this time held UPEI to just 5 shots on goal.

The third period was a different story altogether. Acadia took advantage of a holding call to UPEI’s David Mazurek, as 1^st year forward Zach Franko continued his hot scoring as of late, scoring on the powerplay from Chris Owens and Remy Giftopoulos. Just under two minutes later, Giftopolous and Franko hooked up again, this time it was Giftopoulos converting for the goal, from Franko and Boston Leier to tie the game at two.

It looked like the Axemen had all of the momentum, but when Acadia goalie Glover was called for delay of game, Chris Desousa made good for the second time on the night with the man advantage, putting UPEI back on top 3-2.

But the Axemen wouldn’t be denied, as they stormed right back just 1:15 later, as it was Franko again putting the puck by UPEI’s goaltender Mahalik to tie things up at 3. Liam Heelis and Giftopoulos recorded the assists, giving both Giftopoulos and Franko three points each on the night. Less than three minutes later, the Axemen completed the comeback, as first year defenceman Matt Pufahl fired home the eventual game winner at 13:07 of the third period. Stephen Woodworth and Leier picked up the helpers on the goal.

That was all the Axemen would need as they went on to hold off the Panthers to win 4-3. Shots on goal in the third period were 11 for UPEI, 10 for Acadia, for a three period total of 35 for UPEI, 22 for Acadia. Glover took the win for Acadia, while Mahalik took the loss. Acadia was 1 for 5 on the powerplay, while UPEI was 2 for 7.

Acadia welcomed back 3^rd year power forward Dylan Anderson to the lineup, he had been out all season up to this point with a high ankle sprain.

Acadia moves on to take on the Saint Thomas Tommies on Saturday night in Fredericton; with the Axemen win, and UNB’s victory over SMU on Friday night, both Acadia & UNB both sit tied for second, now just one point back of SMU for 1^st place in the AUS.