Acadia down Saint Mary’s 4-1
Four unanswered 3rd period goals seal victory
The Acadia Axemen kicked off the second half of the AUS men’s hockey season on a snowy night in Halifax as they faced the Saint Mary’s Huskies at the historic Halifax Forum. It took two periods for the Axemen (13-6-1) to shed the holiday rust, but by the third period, they looked like a well-oiled machine, scoring four unanswered goals on route to a 4-1 victory over the Huskies (9-10-1).
Between the pipes, the Axemen started Robert Steeves who ended the first half strong in goal with 5 wins, while Saint Mary’s countered with Cole Cheveldave.
SMU had a chance to shake off the holiday break already as they had opened their second half with a game on Wednesday night and it showed in the first period as they carried an edge in play in the opening period. This led to a goal on the powerplay from the newest Huskie, Aaron Berisha at 10:49 of the opening period. Berisha, playing in just his second game after committing to Saint Mary’s over the break. Calder Brooks and Hunter Garlent picked up the helpers on the goal. Shots after the first period were 7-4 in favor of Saint Mary’s.
The second period was a tight affair that saw three powerplays for each team, but neither side could capitalize and the teams went to the 2nd intermission with the same 1-0 score. Shots on goal were 8-6 in favor of Acadia in the 2nd period.
The Axemen started the third period on the man advantage and were able to get on the scoreboard as Daniel Pettersson ripped home a booming slap shot 56 seconds into the frame to tie the game. Boston Leier and Geoff Schemitsch picked up the assists.
Midway through the period, Axemen defenseman Matt Pufahl was able to intercept a clearing attempt from the Huskies, keeping the puck on side by the narrowest of margins, before carrying the puck towards the SMU net and dishing it off to Taylor Makin who one timed the puck past Cheveldave to give the visitors the lead.
Under two minutes later, the Axemen stretch the lead to two, as Michael Clarke found himself all alone in front of the net with the Saint Mary’s goalie, and he put on a clinic with some fancy moves deking Cheveldave before depositing the puck in the back of the net. Alex Lepkowski & Geoff Schemitsch picked up assists on Clarke’s marker.
Saint Mary’s pulled their goalie in favor of an extra attacked with over two minutes remaining desperately trying to cut into the Axemen lead, but Brendan Childerley was able to seal the game with an empty net goal for Acadia at 19:15 of the third period.
Final shots on goal were 21 for Saint Mary’s, 21 for Acadia. The Axemen were 1 for 7 on the powerplay while the Huskies were 1 for 4.
The Axemen welcomed Chance Braid and Marc McNalty back to the lineup, both ended the first half on the injury list. Still missing from the lineup was high scoring 2nd year forward Kyle Farrell. First year forward Nick Betz signed to play in the ECHL and has left the team.
Acadia returns home Saturday night to face the U de M Aigles Bleus at the Andrew H. McCain Arena at 7pm.