Acadia late game heroics edge UPEI 6-5 in OT
Farrell the OT hero for the 2nd time in as many nights
It was quite a weekend for the Acadia Axemen. To start, it was Acadia Axemen Family Appreciation weekend, with 17 of the players’ families in town to spend the weekend together, attend team events, and watch their son’s play.
It was also Acadia Hockey Honour Roll induction weekend, which had Axemen alumni standouts Paul Doherty, Brian Casey, Malcolm Cameron and long-time Axemen support staff David Beach joining the Honour Roll of the most influential Axemen of all-time.
Couple those two events, with the fact that on Friday night, the team was down 3-1 in the second period to the CIS #1 ranked UNB Varsity Reds, but instead of putting up the white flag, they battled back and defeated the Reds in overtime; the emotion of the weekend was already draining.
Well the Axemen decided to add another layer of excitement to the weekend on Saturday night! Facing the UPEI Panthers, the opposition took a 5-4 lead with just 52 second remaining in the third, and it looked like the Axemen luck had run out, but Mike Cazzola found a way to even the score with just 18 seconds remaining to send the game to an extra frame. And that’s where Kyle Farrell did what he has done an unprecedented three times already this year, and added a fourth, by scoring the overtime winner to send the Acadia Axemen fans and families home happy with a 6-5 Axemen win!
UPEI got on the board first, with Brock Beukeboom scoring on the powerplay at 4:11 of the opening period. The Axemen responded quickly, however, as Remy Giftopoulos scored his first of the season, just 1:27 later to square the game at 1. That held up until late in the period when Mike Cazzola found a loose puck in front of the net and slid it under a fallen Mavric Parks, the Panthers netminder, to give Acadia the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The Axemen seemed to pour it on and take control of the game in the second period, until an unfortunate miscommunication on the powerplay led to a UPEI shorthanded goal, by Mason Wilgosh. Axemen netminder Brandon Glover and first year defenceman Brett Cote got their signals crossed, leaving a puck in front of the net for Wilgosh to slap into the Axemen goal. With the Axemen trying to sort that out, they took a penalty sending the Panthers to the powerplay, where the visitors again took advantage of an Axemen mistake. Acadia had the puck as rearguard Matt Pufahl attempted a cross ice saucer pass that Chad Labelle knocked down, went in on a breakaway, and made no mistake, giving UPEI a 3-2 lead. Leaving the Axemen fans stunned at the turn of events.
The third period was for lack of a better word, crazy. Middleton native Stephen Woodworth tied the game at 3, 4:52 into the period, with a rocket shot that beat Parks high over his blocker to give the fans renewed hope. But at 11:29, it was Wilgosh again giving UPEI the lead at 4-3. But just over 2 and a half minutes later, Brett Cote scored his first in an Axemen uniform to once again put the teams on even ground. It looked like we might be headed to overtime, until at 19:09, UPEI’s Nelson Armstrong was able to beat Glover to seemingly break the hearts of the Axemen faithful.
But the Axemen found a way, after taking a time-out, and pulling their goaltender in favour of an extra attacker, Mike Cazzola was able to tie the game at 5 with just 18 seconds remaining and send the game to the extra frame.
And that’s where first year Axemen forward Kyle Farrell, did it yet again, this time just 18 seconds into overtime. The former Cape Breton Screaming Eagle standout, grabbed a loose puck after a UPEI clearing attempt hit a linesman, creating a 2 on 1 for Acadia, Farrell held the puck and decided to take it on his own, finding the back of the net, much to the approval of the Axemen fans. It was Farrell’s fourth overtime winner of the season, all four on home ice, and his second in as many nights. Truly remarkable.
Brett Thompson had three assists on the night for the Axemen, while Zach Franko and Geoff Schemitsch each had two helpers.
For the night, Acadia heavily outshot UPEI by a margin of 46-26. UPEI was 2 for 3 on the powerplay, while the Axemen were 0 for 4, also giving up a shorthanded goal. The Acadia coaching staff was no doubt unhappy with the turnovers by the team, which really allowed UPEI the chances to stay in the game.
With the win, coupled with UNB losing to SMU on Saturday night, Acadia now sits a point back of UNB and StFX, who both have 18 points.
Acadia hits the road next weekend, travelling to New Brunswick to face the U de M Aigles Bleus on Friday night, and the STU Tommies on Saturday night.