Cardiac Kids Do it Again! Acadia wins 4-3

Acadia scores 3 in the third to defeat U de M

It’s not the way Acadia Axemen head coach Darren Burns would prefer to get the wins, but the Acadia Axemen are making comebacks looks easy and normal as of late. Acadia came into the third period in Moncton, trailing the host Aigles Bleus 3-1 and killing a penalty. When the final buzzer rang, the Axemen were victorious 4-3.

Moncton scored the only goal of the first period when Danny Chiasson put the puck past Axemen goaltender Brandon Glover and into the net at 15:42. Acadia controlled much of the play in the first period but were stymied by U de M netminder Brandon Thibeau, who turned aside all 16 shots the Axemen fired his way. Many were grade A scoring chances.

Moncton padded their lead in the second period at 12:34 when Alex Emund converted a nice three way passing play with the Saulnier brothers to make it 2-0. Acadia answered back at 14:41, when Zachary Franko went for a wrap around and banked the puck off of Thibeau and into the net, to cut the lead to 2-1. But the Aigles Bleus wasted no time getting their two goal lead back as Alex Saulnier converted another three way passing play just 55 seconds later to go back up 3-1. Moncton took that lead into the intermission.

Acadia got the spark they needed at the 3:00 mark of the third period when Brett Thompson scored on the powerplay, taking a pass from Franko and beating Thibeau to cut the lead to one. Matt Pufahl picked up the secondary assist on the goal.

The Axemen found a way to tie the game at 14:25 when Boston Leier found a loose puck infront of the net and made no mistake to square the game at three. Michael Clarke had the only assist on the goal.

With overtime looming, Acadia completed the comeback and took their first lead of the game when first year forward, and late game hero Kyle Farrell tipped home a Remy Giftopoulos shot. Initially the goal was given to Giftopoulos, but it was later changed to be Farrell. His third straight game winning goal for the Axemen, and 5th game winner already on the season! Truly remarkable.

Acadia outshot Moncton 38-22 on the night, with Moncton going 0 for 3 with the man advantage and Acadia 2 for 6.

The Axemen move on to Fredericton to play the STU Tommies tomorrow night. The Tommies are coming off of their first win of the season, a 2-1 shootout win over the SMU Huskies. Acadia now sits 1 point behind StFX for first place in the AUS, and one point ahead of the UNB Varsity Reds.