Axemen down Moncton 4-3

Acadia’s McCollum with 1st AUS win

Conor McCollum stopped 21 of 24 shots for his first AUS win

The Acadia Axemen (6-11) squeeked out a 4-3 victory over the Moncton Aigles Bleus (5-10-1) on Saturday night in Moncton. Conor McCollum, the Axemen third string goaltender, got the call for the Axemen with Max Paddock sidelined due to injury, and Logan Flodell having played last night against UNB. McCollum responded with a standout performance for his first AUS win, making a number of stellar saves and turning aside 21 of 24 shots he faced.

The Axemen took a 1-0 lead midway through the opening period on a goal from Jack Flaman. Eric Henderson had the lone assist on the goal. Acadia took that lead to the dressing room after one period.

Early in the second period, just 1:32 in, Mason McCarty made it 2-0 on a beautiful solo effort as he broke in on a breakaway and made no mistake.

Moncton got on the board 2:24 later, as Remy Anglehart scored on the powerplay to cut the lead in half. But before the period ended, Acadia responded with a powerplay goal of their own as Jack Flaman notched his second of the night, at 19:36. Eric Henderson & Mason McCarty both picked up their 2nd points of the night on the goal. That gave the Axemen a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.

Vincent Deslauriers brought his team within one at 3:28, but Eric Henderson responded for the Axemen to restore the two goal lead for Acadia at 10:25 of the third period. His 3rd point of the night, with the assists on the goal going to Garrett McFadden and Peyton Hoyt.

It looked like that may put the Axemen in the driver’s seat, however Deslauriers had other ideas as he scored his second of the night to once again make it a one goal game at 13:57.

The final minutes were tense as Acadia had to kill off two penalties in the last 5 minutes including while Moncton pulled their goalie to give them a 6 on 4 advantage, but McCollum was up to the challenge turning the Aigles Bleus away. Final shots on goal were 34 for Acadia and 24 for Moncton.

With the win, Acadia moves ahead of Moncton in the AUS standings, and moves within 3 points of a three-way log jam for third place in the conference. The Axemen finish up their 1st half of play on Wednesday night as they travel to Halifax to face the Dalhousie Tigers.