Axemen Drop 4-3 Season Opener to SMU

Mairs, Hopwo, and Bell score for Axemen in loss

The Acadia Axemen dropped their season opener 4–3 to the Saint Mary’s Huskies on Wednesday night at Andrew H. McCain Arena.

The teams traded chances early before Saint Mary’s struck first. Jake Uberti opened the scoring at 10:06 of the first period, finishing a feed from Ben Boyd. Acadia answered quickly. Just 10 seconds later, Brendan Mairs converted a pass from Ryder McIntyre to tie the game 1–1.

The Axemen grabbed their first lead at 11:15 when Corson Hopwo scored off a setup from Luke Zazula. But a late penalty proved costly. With Acadia shorthanded, Reid Valade scored on the power play at 18:57 to make it 2–2 after the opening frame.

The Huskies regained control late in the second period. Valade netted his second of the night at 19:00, putting Saint Mary’s back in front 3–2 heading into the intermission.

Early in the third, Will Chisholm extended the lead to 4–2 with help from Boyd and Uberti. Acadia pressed in the final minutes and was rewarded on the power play. With 6.2 seconds left, Kian Bell scored from Brayden Schmitt and Liam Kidney to cut the deficit to one. The Axemen, however, ran out of time to complete the comeback.

Acadia outshot Saint Mary’s 37–36 but went 1-for-6 on the power play compared to the Huskies’ 1-for-4. Goaltender Thomas Couture made 32 saves for the Axemen, while Ben West stopped 34 shots for Saint Mary’s.

The three stars were Valade, West, and Hopwo.

Acadia (0-1-0) returns to action Friday, October 3 on the road against Moncton. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.