Playoff Preview: Round 1 Best of 3 Acadia vs StFX

Game 1 Thursday in Antigonish, Game 2 in Wolfville on Saturday

For the 3rd straight season, the Acadia Axemen will face the StFX X-Men in round 1 of the best of 3 AUS playoffs, with game 1 of this year’s series going Thursday night in Antigonish at 7pm.

After a heated final game of the regular season that saw the teams combine for 214 minutes in penalties, the intensity and temperature is bound to remain high. Combine that with the two teams playing 13 periods of hockey in 2 games in the best of 3 matchup in round 1 of last year’s playoffs, with StFX winning the series 2-0, this matchup is highly anticipated among hockey fans alike. Despite the Axemen dropping Saturday night’s season ending game to the X-Men, Acadia owns the season series between the teams 3 games to 2. However, when we caught up with Acadia head coach Darren Burns, he is not putting much stock into that regular season success going into the post-season saying, “I don’t think coaches really look at regular season results come playoff time. The reality is this is an excellent league and it’s very close. We have just focused on trying to improve as a team as the year went on and we feel we have.”

The Axemen have been playing some of their best hockey of the season down the stretch, finishing the season winning 3 of their last 4 games. The StFX X-Men have struggled as of late going 1-4 in their last 5 games. Their top scorer, Zack Trott ended the regular season with 36 points in 30 games. Top goal scorer Alex Christopoulos had 32 points including 15 goals, however, he will miss game 1 after an altercation with Acadia’s Luke Zazula in the final game of the season that will see both players suspended. With Christopoulos out, the X-Men will look to Jacob Maillet and Ethan Burroughs, who had 26 and 25 points respectively this season, to bring the offense. Charlie Callaghan is an offensive force on the backend as a key on their powerplay along with his ability to jump into the rush at even strength to create scoring chances.

Key players to watch for the Axemen will be regular season leading point and goal scorer, Brady Burns. With 32 points, including 13 goals in 30 games, he along with linemate Cam MacDonald, who had 12 goals and 27 points as a freshmen, will be key to the Acadia offense. Adam McMaster finished the regular season on a tear, scoring 7 goals and a total of 10 points in his final 8 games down the stretch. Charlie Desroches and Tyler Deline (17 and 16 points) will be counted on at both ends of the ice for offense and to keep their opponents at bay. It’s no secret the key to the Axemen success will be the play of their netminder, Thomas Couture, who played in 26 of 30 games this year, and was stellar in last season’s playoff series giving Acadia every opportunity to win through the triple and quadruple overtime games.

When asked what the Axemen need to do to be successful in this short best of 3 playoff series, Coach Burns said, “Our success will come from hard work and structure. When we have had our best results it’s because we played smart and we played with a lot of structure in our game, all over the ice.”

Game 1 on Thursday, February 20^th at the Keating Centre in Antigonish is set to be an exciting start to the series, with both teams eager to gain the upper hand. Game 2 goes Saturday night in Wolfville at the Andrew H. McCain Arena at 7pm. With such evenly matched teams, this series promises to be a thrilling display of AUS hockey at its finest. #GoAcadiaGo