Acadia falls 4-3 to Dalhousie in OT Shootout
Franko scores two for Axemen
The Axemen did a lot of things right on Wednesday night in their first road game of the young AUS hockey season. They fired 50 shots on Dalhousie goaltender Corbin Boes; they controlled the possession and end zone time, at times, even strength was a powerplay formation in the Dal zone for the Axemen; but it was Acadia’s mistakes in their own end that proved to be costly and ultimately put them in the position to be in a shootout, for the extra point with Dalhousie.
Dalhousie opened the scoring just 2:10 into the opening period, on a turnover by Acadia in their own end, when Dal forward Felix Page picked up a loose puck and let a sharp angle shot go that Axemen 2nd year goaltender Robert Steeves stopped, but sent the rebound to the slot where Tanner Williams slapped home the goal uncontested.
Just before the 10 minute mark, 2nd year Axemen forward Zach Franko scored unassisted to tie the game up at one. But just 2:25 later, Fabian Walsh, again capitalized on an Axemen mishap, as Acadia tried to clear a puck up the middle of the ice, and it was knocked down which led to Walsh sliding a puck past a sprawling Steeves. That sent the teams to the dressing rooms after 1 period, with Dal leading Acadia 2-1.
Second year Axemen defenceman Matthew Pufahl tied the game at two late in the second period at 16:06 as he snapped and absolute rocket that pinged off the crossbar and post and into the net. Pufahl had made a number of rushes and created scoring chances, narrowly missing on a great solo effort just minutes before, but this time he made no mistake in tying the game at 2; Pettersson and Farrell picked up assists on the goal.
Dalhousie took the lead at 12:37 of the third period when it was Fabian Walsh putting home his second of the game, this time on the powerplay. It looked as though that would be the winner, as time ticked down and the Axemen lifted their goaltender in favor of an extra attacker, and with just 4 seconds remaining in regulation time, Franko found a way to push the puck by Boes in a scrum of bodies to send the game to sudden death overtime.
The OT session solved nothing as neither team was able to convert despite many chances at both ends of the ice. So the game was to be decided by a shootout. Acadia sent Remy Giftopoulos, Brett Thompson, and Zach Franko at Corbin Boes, but Boes turned aside all three. Phil Gadoury had the only goal in the shootout, sending Acadia back home with a point in the OT shootout loss.
Acadia struggled on the powerplay, going 0 for 10, mind you many of those powerplays were cut short by penalties. Dalhousie was 1 for 4 with the man advantage. Steeves stopped 21 shots in the loss, while Boes turned aside 47 shots. Acadia played the game without co-captain Mike Cazzola, as he was held out of the lineup with a day to day injury.
Acadia returns to Halifax on Friday night to face the Saint Mary’s Huskies at the Halifax Forum, puck drop is set for 7pm. SMU is coming off a 4-2 loss to St. FX on Wednesday night.