Author: crichards

A tough pill to swallow

Acadia looked like they had done what they needed to do on Wednesday night, come in to Saint Mary’s barn and win in regulation time; which would give them the tie breaker with SMU, & leave them in a great position to move a step closer to the AUS 1^st round playoff bye… it looked good… until the final minute of play in the third period.

Acadia led 3-1 late in the third period, as SMU goaltender Anthony Peters left the ice in favor of the extra attacker, Stephen Johnston was able send a shot past Axemen goaltender Brandon Glover, closing the gap to 3-2 with just 54 seconds to play. As the Huskies maintained possession following the faceoff, Peters again headed to the bench, and the puck found its way to SMU sniper Stephen MacAulay and he made no mistake, beating Glover high to the glove side to knot the game up at 3 with 26 seconds remaining in the third. The goals came just 28 seconds apart.

Overtime saw both teams exchange chances, with Peters making a couple of key saves to keep the game alive. Tyler Ferry went off for a slash, breaking the stick of SMU forward Stephen Johnston, giving the Huskies an overtime powerplay. And they made no mistake as Kyle Pereira’s shot from the point beat Glover to give SMU the win. Stephen MacAulay picked up an assist on the goal, giving him 4 points on the night (2 goals, 2 assists).Read more »

Acadia with Pair of Wins this Weekend

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The AUS second place Acadia Axemen delivered their second win in a row with a 4-2 victory over the UPEI Panthers, who drop to 9-10-2 and remain in a fight for a playoff spot sitting in fifth place – four points ahead of Moncton. The Axemen, fresh off of a 6-1 win over the struggling St. Thomas Tommies, faced UPEI who looked to rebound from a 2-1 loss to the Dalhousie Tigers one night ago.

Both teams fought for physical dominance in the opening period, combining for 12 minutes in penalties.

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Franko & Giftopolous with 3pts each

The Acadia Axemen defeated the St. Thomas Tommies by a 6-1 margin on Friday night in Wolfville. With the win, the Axemen sweep the season series 4-0, scoring 32 goals in the 4 games to the Tommies 16.

St. Thomas kept things tight early, and were the first on the board, with JC Laflamme tallying an unassisted goal shorthanded at 13:09 of the first period to put the away team up 1-0. With Acadia on the powerplay, the puck hopped over the stick of Axemen defenceman Chris Owens’ stick, as he tried to hold the blue line. That sent Laflamme in all alone, and he found the back of the net, beating Acadia first year goaltender Robert Steeves.

But the Axemen battled back just 1:11 later as Scott Trask buried a shot past Tyson Teichmann to even the score at 1; it was Trask’s second goal on the season and Giftopolous and Poliziani picked up assists. Acadia went to the powerplay and took the lead for good at 16:55 of the opening frame as Zach Franko fired a bullet to the top corner of the net for his 9^th goal on the season; Poliziani picked up his second assist on the night on the goal. Acadia would take the 2-1 lead into the dressing rooms, leading the way in shots by a 19-7 margin.

The second period stayed relatively tight, mostly due to some great goaltending from Teichmann, the Tommies goaltender, as he turned away 16 of 17 shots in the 2^nd period. The only shot to beat him was off the stick of Zach Franko, adding his second on the night. Remy Giftopolous had his second helper on the goal, with Matt Pufahl also getting an assist.Read more »

St. FX score 4 in the third period for the win

Antigonish, NS – The StFX X-Men (12-7) erased a two-goal deficit with four unanswered tallies in the third period to earn a 4-2 win over the CIS No. 3 ranked Acadia Axemen (14-5) Saturday night in AUS hockey action.

On the power play, the visiting Axemen opened the scoring at 10:26 of the first period. Geoff Schemitsch (Thornhill, ON) beat Drew Owsley (Lethbridge, AB) with a one-timer from the right face-off circle. Matthew Pufahl (Saskatoon, SK) and Zachary Franko (Winnipeg, MB) garnered assists on the marker.

Acadia doubled the lead on a goal from Dylan Anderson (Ottawa, ON), who walked out from behind the X-Men net and beat Owsley from the lip of the crease on the forehand. Travis Randell (Twillingate, NL) and Remy Giftopoulos (Ancaster, ON) drew the assists at 7:39 of the second period.

Jarrad Struthers (Glace Bay, NS), from Blake Gal (Lethbridge, AB) and Michael Kirkpatrick (North Sydney, NS) cut the Axemen lead to 2-1 at the 7:48 mark of the third period.

After a sliding Trey Lewis (Aldouane, NB) shot block, one of several on the night for the freshman defender, the X-Men broke into the Axemen zone on four-on-one. Glover made the initial save on a MacIntosh slap shot, but he could not block the second attempt from the junior forward. Craig Duininck (St. Cloud, MN) collected the lone assist at 8:58.Read more »

Owens scores winner to give Acadia come from behind win

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The first home match up of the New Year was set to be an exciting one as both teams looked to make a push for the top spot in the AUS standings during the second half of the season. Saint Mary’s entered the game only one point behind the Acadia Axemen in the standings. Prior to tonight’s Axemen 5-4 win, the Huskies lead the regular season series of four games 2-0 with both games being won by only a single goal.

The Huskies wasted no time opening the scoring early, two minutes in, capitalizing on an Acadia turn over below the goal line, Alex Cord netted his first goal of the regular season under the blocker arm of Brandon Glover.

Following a Saint Mary’s hooking call, Michael Clarke capitalized off of a miscue by a Huskie defenseman, returning the favour just 76 seconds later, rifling one off the cross bar and in.

With under a minute to play in the opening frame, third year forward Brett Thompson caught Huskies on a line change, allowing him to break away on his own, scoring on Anthony Peters on the far side to give Acadia their first lead.

The lead didn’t last long as the Huskies took advantage of a powerplay with 7 seconds remaining in the period. Kyle Pereira wired a slap shot through traffic that fooled Glover, tying the game at two-a-piece.

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