Make it 5 wins in a row, Acadia downs Dal

Axemen win 5-1, move into 1st place in AUS

The Acadia Axemen made it 5 straight victories with a 5-1 win over the Dalhousie Tigers on Wednesday night in Wolfville.

With the win, Acadia moves into a first place tie with the UNB Varsity Reds, one point up on the Saint Mary’s Huskies. Acadia will visit SMU on Friday night in the final game of the first half of the season for the Axemen, in a matchup that could decide who will sit on top of the AUS when we ring in 2015.

But back to tonight’s game, Acadia came out strong scoring on the powerplay just 1:02 into the game. After Dal’s Colton Parsons went off for hooking, Acadia’s Geoff Schemitsch wired home his first of the season to put Acadia up 1-0. But the Tigers responded 2:30 later as Alex Cote converted from Mike Evelyn, beating Acadia goalie Brandon Glover, to tie things up.

But not to be denied, the Axemen came right back just :59 seconds later when Tyler Ferry put home a loose puck on a broken play with Alex Beaton and Mike Cazzola to put the home team in the lead for good. Brett Thompson added his second of the night at 7:44, from Cazzola to make it 3-1; And then at 15:02, with Colton Parsons back in the box for Dalhousie, the Axemen made the Tigers pay, as Thompson scored his second of the night, this time on the powerplay, to put his team up 4-1. A lead they took into the first intermission.

After an offensive fury in the first period with five goals scored, the second period saw neither team score, mostly due to the 15 saves Dalhousie goaltender Wendel Vye made to keep the Axemen off the board in the period. Axemen Scott Trask received a 5 minute major for kneeing late in the second period on a play that appeared to be a hip check, but the Tigers player was injured on the play which may have led to the decision on the penalty.

The third period saw more great saves from Vye, at one point turning aside a breakaway, and then a 2 on 0 within 15 seconds of each other. But Brett Thompson was hungry for #3 on the night and at 13:32 that hat-trick was his, as he scored his third on the night, and 12^th goal on the season, to round out the scoring in the game. Mike Cazzola picked up his 3^rd assist of the night on the goal, with Alex Beaton picking up the other helper.

Acadia outshot Dal 42-22 on the night, with Glover getting the win, and Vye taking the loss despite playing excellent to keep this game close. Dal was 0 for 6 on the powerplay, while Acadia converted on 2 of 6 chances on the man advantage.

Attendance for the game was 1948 fans, including many minor hockey players in their team jerseys, for Minor Hockey night at the Andrew H McCain Arena.