SMU comes from behind to beat Acadia 4-3 in OT
A tough pill to swallow
Acadia looked like they had done what they needed to do on Wednesday night, come in to Saint Mary’s barn and win in regulation time; which would give them the tie breaker with SMU, & leave them in a great position to move a step closer to the AUS 1st round playoff bye… it looked good… until the final minute of play in the third period.
Acadia led 3-1 late in the third period, as SMU goaltender Anthony Peters left the ice in favor of the extra attacker, Stephen Johnston was able send a shot past Axemen goaltender Brandon Glover, closing the gap to 3-2 with just 54 seconds to play. As the Huskies maintained possession following the faceoff, Peters again headed to the bench, and the puck found its way to SMU sniper Stephen MacAulay and he made no mistake, beating Glover high to the glove side to knot the game up at 3 with 26 seconds remaining in the third. The goals came just 28 seconds apart.
Overtime saw both teams exchange chances, with Peters making a couple of key saves to keep the game alive. Tyler Ferry went off for a slash, breaking the stick of SMU forward Stephen Johnston, giving the Huskies an overtime powerplay. And they made no mistake as Kyle Pereira’s shot from the point beat Glover to give SMU the win. Stephen MacAulay picked up an assist on the goal, giving him 4 points on the night (2 goals, 2 assists).
SMU was missing a number of players suffering with the flu, but received a passionate effort from their squad, coming out of the first period with a 1-0 lead on a powerplay goal from MacAulay. Acadia lead in shots after 1, 12-9.
Acadia would bounce back in the second period as Brett Thompson scored his 14th goal on the season, capitalizing on a turnover by the SMU defence, which led to a nice passing play between Dylan Anderson and ending with Thompson scoring. Acadia led 17-10 in 2nd period shots on goal, however SMU hit the iron three times in the period.
The third period looked to be the Axemen’s period, they came out looking for the W as Boston Leier scored on a bullet shot that went over Peters shoulder, grazing the crossbar and into the net. It was Leier’s 6th goal on the season. Before the goal was finished being announced, Remy Giftopoulos scored again for Acadia, as he turned and fired in front of the net, scoring just 1:11 after Leier, to give Acadia the 3-1 lead.
Shots in the third period were 15-9 for Acadia and 5-2 Acadia in OT, for a 4 period total of 49-30 in favor of the Axemen. Acadia was 0 for 6 on the powerplay, while SMU converted on 2 of 6 chances.
Acadia does pick up an important point for the overtime loss, leaving Acadia 3 points ahead of Saint Mary’s for second place in the AUS. The Axemen will need to regroup quickly as they face the Moncton Aigles Bleus at home on Friday night, and welcome the #2 ranked team in the country, the AUS leading UNB Varsity Reds to town on Saturday night.