Axemen drop 5-2 decision to Queens

Three 2nd period goals lead Gaels to exhibition victory

The Acadia Axemen came out strong in their 1st home game of the exhibition schedule, however the second period proved to be their demise in a 5-2 loss to the Queen’s Gaels.

Acadia opened the scoring at 9:38 of the 1st period when Corson Hopwo showed masterful possession of the puck in the Queen’s zone before sending a pass to Nick Deakin-Poot, who ripped a shot past the Gaels netminder to make it 1-0. Queen’s answered back at 13:14 on a bad break for the Axemen as Queen’s Katzalay tried to center a pass that hit the defender and deflected into the Acadia net to even the score.

The Axemen would regain the lead before the period ended as Peyton Hoyt fired a sharp angle shot that found the top corner of the net at 19:16, with assists going to Luke Zazula and Brendan Sellan.

Queen’s came out a new team in the second period as they took the play to Acadia, scoring at 4:15 of the frame, the goal off the stick of defenceman Duff.  The visitors then took the lead on a nice passing play as forward Richard found a streaking Hamilton cutting to the net who tipped the pass over the glove of Axemen netminder Brayden Peters. Queen’s rounded out the scoring in the period just over a minute later as Tolnai made it 4-2 heading into the 2nd intermission.

The teams played even hockey in the third period, with the Gaels protecting their 2 goal lead. Acadia tried to open up and push their offense, which lead to Brayden Peters needing to make a number of big saves to keep the Axemen within 2. Queen’s ended the scoring on the night with an empty net goal at 19:49 of the 3rd period on a goal by Paquette.

Final shots on goal in the game were 32 for Acadia and 32 for Queen’s. Acadia was 0 for 2 on the powerplay while Queen’s was 0 for 3.

Acadia’s next exhibition action is set for Wednesday, September 27th as the Axemen host the Dal Tigers at 7pm at the Andrew H. McCain Arena. Get your tickets for the game at the Acadia Box office or online at acadiau.universitytickets.com