WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U Sports No. 5 ranked Acadia Axemen (20-8-2) ended their regular season on a high note, erasing a two-goal deficit in the second period to knock off the StFX X-Men (16-12-2) and push their current winning streak to four games.
Not looking to disappoint the fans, the third period saw a wild circularity of Acadia getting two separate two-goal leads, before having the X-Men respond with a goal of their own each time.
Unfortunately for the X-Men, that was as close as they came to recapturing their lead, losing 8-5.
Acadia opened the scoring early in the first, with a power-play goal from Boston Leier (Saskatoon, Sask.), after he picked up a rebound from a point shot by Kyle Farrell (Howie Center, N.S.). Leier fired a low backhand past X-Men goalie, Brandon Hope (Canton, Michigan) for his 18th goal of the regular season and a 1-0 Axemen lead.
StFX responded quickly with a goal of their own from X-Men forward, Michael Clarke (London, Ont.), who fired a quick snapshot from the inside edge of the right faceoff circle past Axemen goalie Robert Steeves (Moncton, N.B.).Read more »
(Halifax, N.S.) – Acadia goaltender Devin Williams (Saginaw, MI) was the difference-maker on Friday night, recording 39 saves, as the Axemen topped the Dalhousie Tigers 2-1 at the Halifax Forum.
With the win, Acadia advanced to 19-8-2 on the season, while the Tigers fell to 8-18-3. Discipline was an issue for both teams in the opening 20 minutes, as the squads combined for 30 minutes in penalties in the first period.
It was the Axemen who were able to capitalize, scoring the only goal of the period at 10:15 on the man advantage, courtesy of a one-timer from defenceman Geoff Schemitsch (Thornhill, ON).
The visitors maintained the majority of offensive pressure – outshooting Dalhousie 12-6 heading into the first intermission – but were stymied on multiple occasions by Tigers goalie Joe Gladnick (Philadelphia, PA), who made a handful of impressive glove saves to keep the score at 1-0.
The Tigers picked up the tempo in the second period, forcing two early Axemen penalties, while outshooting Acadia 15-1 through the opening 13 minutes of play, and 19-10 overall.
Williams stood his ground however, making a number of impressive saves to keep the hosts off the board, including two from in tight against forward Kelly Bent (Halifax, NS). Read more »
WOLFVILLE, N.S. – After clinching a playoff spot last week, the U Sports No. 5 ranked Acadia Axemen (18-8-2) continued their winning streak of three against the sixth-place Moncton Aigles Bleus (10-17-1), with a 4-1 win. Axemen forward, Sam Fioretti (Calgary, Alta.), scored a natural hat trick to help lift Acadia over Moncton in their last meeting of the year with the Aigles Bleus.
“It was a great team effort and wrapping up with the bye was our goal going into this year and I think it’s big for our playoff push,” said Fioretti after the game.
Moncton scored at 0:59 in the opening period, with a slapshot off the crossbar and past Axemen goaltender Robert Steeves (Moncton, N.B.), from forward Allain Saulnier (Cap-Pele, N.B.). The puck was shot so hard that it ricocheted back out of the net and play continued before the referees met near center ice to decide it was a good goal.
Fioretti tied the game up with a shorthanded marker late in the first on a 2-on-1, by tipping a pass from rushing defenseman, Geoff Schemitsch (Thornhill, Ont.), past Moncton goaltender, Alexi Thibaudeau (Gatineau, Que.).
Less than two minutes later, Fioretti struck again, coming out of the right corner and firing a snapshot, low glove side, beating Thibaudeau and giving the Axemen a 2-1 lead heading into the second.
Fioretti completed the natural hat trick 45 seconds before the midway point of the second period, on an Axemen power-play. After moving the puck around the perimeter of the Aigles Bleus penalty kill, Axemen defenseman, Matthew Pufahl (Saskatoon, Sask.), slid the puck over to Fioretti, who fired another low snapshot past Thibaudeau to give Acadia a 3-1 lead.
Axemen forward Brendan Childerley added to the lead roughly three minutes later, breaking in on the right side and firing a wrist shot past Aigles Bleus goaltender Brandon Thibeau (Riverview, N.B.), who replaced Thibaudeau after Fioretti’s hat trick.
Despite chances on both sides, neither team added a goal in the third period, as the Axemen focused on defending their lead and preventing Moncton from coming back for a 4-1 Acadia victory.
Axemen goaltender, Robert Steeves, turned aside 19 of 20 shots on the night. Meanwhile, Aigles Bleus goaltender, Brandon Thibeau stopped 6 of 7 shots in relief of the starter, Alexi Thibaudeau, who allowed 3 goals on 18 shots.
The Subway First Star of the Night went to Sam Fioretti, while second and third star of the night went to Moncton defenseman, Pierre Durepos (Shediac, N.B.) and Acadia defenseman, Alex Lepkowski (Buffalo, New York), respectively.
The Axemen have battled injuries for most of the season and Sam Fioretti noted the importance of the bye. “With these last two games and a week off before that (playoffs), sometimes it’s not necessarily the best team, but the healthiest team that comes on top.”
Acadia will next take to the ice on Fri. Feb. 10 in Halifax to take on the Dalhousie Tigers, before finishing up their regular season the next night, at home, against the StFX X-Men.
Moncton plays the first place UNB Varsity Reds tomorrow night, in Moncton, before finishing off their regular season next Friday in PEI to take on the UPEI Panthers. Puck drop for all games is 7:00 p.m.
Matt Price Strength & Conditioning coach for the LA Kings
Check out our former Acadia Axemen captain Matt Price as he makes an appearance on the Emmy award winning Ellen Show. Matt now serves as the Head Strength and Conditioning coach for the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. Price played for the Axemen over four seasons from 1999-2003.
(Halifax, NS) The Acadia University Axemen scored three times in the third period to beat the Saint Mary’s University Huskies 4-3 on Saturday night at the Halifax forum in Halifax, NS.
The loss drops the Huskies record to 13-13-1. Their 27-points has them in fourth place in the AUS standings with three games left in the regular season.
The Axemen moved to a 17-8-2 record. They sit second in the AUS with 36-points.
Devin Williams (Saginaw, MI) made 23 saves for the Axemen as he improved his record to 7-4.
Chance Braid (Provost, AB) (2), Brett Thompson (Sault St. Marie, ON) (9), Stephen Harper (Burlington, ON) (6) and Kyle Farrell (Howie Center, NS) (8) all found the back of the net for the Axemen.
Calder Brooks (Emerald Park, SK) (5), Hunter Garlent (Thorold, ON) (14) and Austyn Hardie (Montreal, QC) (1) tallied goals for the Huskies.
Garlent’s goal was the 38th point of his rookie season and moved him into a three-way tie for second in AUS scoring.
Cole Cheveldave (Calgary, AB) made 19 saves for the Huskies and had his record fall to 6-9.Read more »
Wolfville, N.S. – The U Sports No. 4 ranked Acadia Axemen (16-8-2) defeated the Dalhousie Tigers (8-15-3), by a score of 5-2 in front of a home crowd of 1567. A hat trick performance from Acadia forward Boston Leier (Saskatoon, Sask.) and a four-assist night from newly minted captain, Brett Thompson (Sault Ste. Marie), helped the Axemen snap a two-game skid.
Acadia scored the only goal of an evenly played first period, with a marker from Axemen forward, Boston Leier. Leier scored on a rebound off of a shot from Brett Thompson, who moved in from the left corner, and stickhandled around a Tigers defenseman before firing a low shot at Dalhousie goaltender, Jacob Fancy (Lower Sackville, N.S.). Leier, waiting on the right side of the net, dropped to one knee and fired the puck past Fancy.
At the end of the first, Acadia lead in shots 12-9, and held a 1-0 lead.
Leier struck again in the second, with a one-handed shot, while on his knees, behind the Tigers net. The puck banked off of Fancy’s skate and went into the net, to give Acadia a 2-0 lead on the power-play.Read more »
WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The StFX X-Men (14-9-2) pulled within two points of the Acadia Axemen (15-8-2), after winning 5-2 in Wolfville on Wednesday night. After scoring three in the first, the X-Men held onto their lead for the rest of the game, although Acadia did come close to tying the game early in the third.
Despite staying scoreless for the first 10 minutes, StFX dominated the first period, scoring three unanswered goals to put the X-Men up big.
Second star of the game, Remy Giftopoulos, pointed out that the opening period was a tough way to start the game.
“Yah you know what, that first period was a back breaker for us and we know we have to come up stronger if you want to compete against a solid team like StFX”, pointed out Giftopolous.
“I thought we played pretty well in the second and third period but it comes back to that start but sometimes it’s too little and too late”, said Giftopoulos.
The first goal came from X-Men forward Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, N.S.), with a wrist shot at the left side of the Acadia net, which momentarily fooled the players and the crowd.
For their second of the period, third year forward Eric Locke (Toronto, Ont.), one-timed a beautiful, cross-ice pass from Holden Cook (Oshawa, Ont.), to give StFX a 2-0 lead.Read more »
WOLFVILLE, N.S. By Cameron Davidson – A 3rd year forward for Axemen Hockey, the 6’1, 180 lbs. Daniel Pettersson of Etobicoke, Ont. has been given the opportunity that every young hockey player growing up in Canada dreams of; to be able to represent your country on the international stage. What’s unique about Pettersson’s opportunity though, is that rather than wearing the maple leaf, he’ll be using his dual-citizenship to represent Sweden at the International University Sports Federation (FISU) Winter Universiade, to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from January 28 to February 8 of this year.
The event will host competition in 12 different winter sports over the course of 12 days, and will play host to athletes sent from approximately 64 different nations university sport federations.
Born in Canada but a dual-citizen from birth, as his father is Canadian and mother is Swedish, Pettersson’s experience playing overseas is what sparked the opportunity to play for Sweden in the Universiade.
Before arriving at Acadia, Pettersson spent several seasons playing professionally in Sweden, which qualified him to compete for the Swedes in the Universiade. The opportunity to play nationally for Sweden was not something Pettersson had really considered, until he was reached out to with the chance to play at the Universiade. “After a little research and information, I knew it would be an amazing opportunity,” Pettersson said.Read more »
Philippe Maillet(Terrebonne, QC) scores the OT winner, as UNB beat Acadia 2-1, Saturday night. (Brian Smith/UNB Hockey)
(FREDERICTON, NB) Philippe Maillet scored a highlight reel goal 1:12 into overtime as the UNB Varsity Reds beat the Acadia Axemen 2-1, Saturday night.
Maillet raced through centre ice and pushed around an Axemen defender before lifting the puck over Acadia goaltender Robert Steeves(Moncton, NB), on the short side.
“It was 3 on 3, so there’s a lot of space on the ice and I had a forward against me, so I just tried to take it to him and just finished up top shelf,” said Maillet.
The Axemen opened the scoring in the first period when Geoff Schemitsch(Thornhill, ON) scored at the 11:30 mark.
That 1-0 lead held until Maillet scored at 14:58 of the second period, banging a rebound past Steeves.
Both teams traded opportunities through the third period, but Steeves and Varsity Reds netminder Etienne Marcoux(Terrebonne, QC) held their ground.
Acadia went on the offensive early in the overtime, but a quick pass from defenceman Matt Petgrave(Brampton, ON) sent Maillet up ice to end the game in spectacular style.Read more »
