Category: Game Recaps

Webb, Peach & Hoyt score for Acadia, Couture with 48 saves

(FREDERICTON, NB) A four-goal second period helped lift the UNB REDS past the Acadia Axemen, 6-3 on Friday night at UNB’s Aitken Centre.  

 

Cole MacKay (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) had two goals and an assist and was named Tim Horton’s Player of the Game as UNB moved to 7-and-0 to start the season. 

 

Friday night’s win didn’t come without some adversity for the REDS, who fell behind 3-1 in the first period.  

 

The Axemen burst out of the gates, notching their first goal just 4:39 into the game. 

 

Reilly Webb (Stoney Creek, ON) fired a shot that took an unusual bounce off the post and deflected off UNB’s Patrick Kyte’s (Pembroke, ON) stick, he was attempting to clear the puck from the crease, giving Acadia a 1-0 lead. 

 

Five minutes later, Acadia extended their lead on a power-play opportunity, thanks to Bailey Peach (Falmouth, NS). He took an excellent pass from Brady Burns (Port Williams, NS) and fired it over Samuel Richard’s (Ste. Catherine, QC) glove. 

 

UNB managed to respond at 15:24 of the first, when Kade Landry’s (Gowanstown, ON) shot found its way through a screened Thomas Couture (Lévis, QC), closing the gap to 2-1. 

 

However, Acadia quickly re-established their two-goal lead when Peyton Hoyt (Fredericton, NB) snapped a shot past Richard from the slot, making it 3-1, capping off a first period filled with scoring opportunities. 

 

The REDS launched an impressive offensive surge in the second period, finding the back of the net four times to seize a 5-3 lead. 

 

It started when Michael Petizian (Mississauga, ON) pounced on a loose puck right in front of the net, igniting the UNB offense 5:55 into the period. 

 

Five minutes later, Adam McCormick (Waterville, NB) leveled the game, firing a point shot past Couture, knotting the score at 3-3. 

 

Isaac Nurse (Hamilton, ON) then propelled the REDS ahead at 13:34, going top shelf to secure UNB’s first lead of the game. 

 

MacKay added an insurance goal for the REDS in the closing moments, tipping home a blistering shot from the point by Kale McCallum (Rothesay, NB) on the power-play, extending the score to 5-3 with 15 seconds remaining in the period. 

 

MacKay added an empty net goal at 18:14 of the third period to cement the victory for UNB. 

 

Looking ahead, both teams are back in action on Saturday night. The REDS will host the Saint Mary’s Huskies at 7:00pm. The Axemen travel to Moncton to face the Aigles Bleus at 7:00 pm. 

 

Recap by: Evan Richtsfeld/UNB Athletics 

Photos by: Kunal Mahajan/for UNB Athletics 

 

Peach with the lone goal for Acadia

WOLFVILLE – The Moncton Aigles Bleus pushed their win streak to four games with a 3-1 victory over the Acadia Axemen on Saturday night.

Acadia came into the weekend on a two-game win streak, losing both weekend games to their New Brunswick opponents starting with a 5-0 loss to UNB on Friday night.

Jeremy Lapointe scored the only goal of the opening period, putting Moncton up 1-0 with a power play goal 10:33 into the game.

Midway through the second period Bailey Peach tied the game for Acadia.

Yann-Felix Lapointe scored the game-winning goal 14:14 into the second period, with the insurance marker coming just over two minutes later.

Olivier Adam made 31 saves in the Moncton victory, while Thomas Couture made 36 saves in the loss.

Next weekend the two teams meet again on Saturday, puck drop is 4 p.m. Friday night Acadia will face UNB in Fredericton, while Moncton hosts Saint Mary’s. Both games start at 7 p.m.

Zack Jones with a goal and an assist in the victory

HALIFAX, NS – The Acadia Axemen handed Saint Mary’s their first loss of the season, defeating the Huskies 4-2 on Saturday night in Halifax. 

The game was part of Saint Mary’s homecoming festivities, and saw the Huskies honour their 1973 National Championship men’s hockey team with a ceremonial puck-drop in front of 600+ fans in attendance at the Dauphinee Centre. 

The Axemen were looking to spoil the Huskies party, fresh off a huge 9-2 win over the UPEI Panthers on Friday night. Acadia came out the gates ready to play, peppering the Huskies net with shots, but goaltender Matthew Welsh (Halifax, NS), turned them away early. 

Huskies defenceman Ben Roger (Markham, ON) had the best opportunity of the first period for Saint Mary’s, but Axemen goaltender Brayden Peters (Taber. AB) made a nice glove save. 

Late in the period Acadia would capitalize on a four-on-three powerplay after Huskies forward Charlie Dafonseca (Thornhill, ON) was sent to the penalty box for interference. Axemen forward Brady Burns (Port Williams, NS) was stopped in front, but the rebound landed on the stick of forward Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, SK), who made no mistake, beating Welsh to put the visitors ahead 1-0. 

The Axemen would take the one goal lead into the intermission, outshooting the Huskies 17-6 through 20 minutes of play. 

Early in the second period, the Huskies pressed for an equalizer but were unable to beat Peters. Acadia would add to their lead just over four minutes into the second, as a scramble in front of the goal saw forward Nicholas Deakin-Poot (Georgetown, ON) bang a rebound past Welsh to double the visitors lead to 2-0. 

But the Huskies explosive offence showed their ability to erase a deficit in a hurry, as they would tie it up 2-2 less than a minute later. 

On the ensuing faceoff, Huskies defenceman Jaxon Bellamy (Hampton, NB) cycled around goal, dished to his partner Dennis Busby (Oro-Medonte, ON) at the point, who passed it back to Bellamy in the low slot, where he roofed a shot past Peters to cut the deficit to 2-1. 

Just 30 seconds later, the Huskies would equalize, as a strange bounce off the faceoff saw the puck deflected up into the crease, where Dafonseca knocked it into the back of the goal to tie the game at 2-2. 

Midway through the period, Axemen forward Corson Hopwo (Duncan, BC), hit Huskies defenceman Justin MacPherson (East Gwillimbury, ON) from behind, and was given a four minute double-minor. The Huskies would have several chances to take the lead on the powerplay, but where unable to capitalize. 

The game would remain deadlocked at 2-2 heading into the second intermission, with the Axemen outshooting the Huskies 14-11 in the second period. 

Five minutes into the third period, Acadia went on the powerplay and scored their second man-advantage marker of the night, as forward Brendan Sellan (Bolton, ON) had his initial shot blocked, but the rebound fell back on his stick and he lifted it past Welsh to put the Axemen up 3-2. 

The Axemen would add on to their lead several minutes later, as forward Zack Jones (North Falmouth, MA) stole the puck at the Huskies blueline and walked in untouched, firing a high shot over Welsh to extend the lead to 4-2, which would go down as the final score. 

Acadia outshot Saint Mary’s 40-28 on the night, with Brayden Peters stopping 26 shots for the win, while Matt Welsh stopped 36 shots in defeat. 

Axemen forward Zack Jones was named Player of the Game with a goal and an assist.  

The Axemen second straight improves their record to 2-1-0-1 to begin the campaign. Acadia will be back on home ice next weekend, taking on the UNB REDS on Friday and Moncton Aigles Bleus on Saturday. 

The Huskies loss drops their record to 3-1-0 on the season. Saint Mary’s will be back one home ice next weekend, as they host the Moncton Aigles Bleues on Saturday, and UNB REDS on Saturday, with puck-drop at 7 p.m. for both games at the Dauphinee Centre.  

Recap by Allan April / Saint Mary’s Huskies Athletics
Photos by Eduardo Ibarra / Saint Mary’s Huskies Athletics 

Whynot with 5 points in the victory

WOLFVILLE – The Acadia Axemen found the win column and the back of net easily on Friday night at home has they picked up a 9-2 victory over the UPEI Panthers.  

Acadia scored three goals in each period, while UPEI scored once in the first and third periods.  

Ethan Ernst scored the eventual game-winning goal in the final two minutes of the opening period, his first of the night. He finished as the only two-goal scorer of the night. 

Kentville’s Cam Whynot had a standout night after not finding the scoresheet in the opening weekend. He scored his first AUS goal 12:22 into the first period, while assisting on four other Axemen goals for a five-point night.  

Port Williams’ Brady Burns also had a multi-point night, finishing with three assists. The duo lead Acadia in scoring through three games with five points apiece.  

The Panthers goals came from Kurtis Henry in the first to make it a 1-1 game and Noah Sedore in the third, to close the gap at that point to 6-2.  

Brayden Peters made his first start between the pipes for Acadia, making 30 saves in the win. 

The Panthers Joe Ranger made 23 saves in the loss, while Jonah Capriotti made 15 saves in relief.  

Saturday night the Axemen are in Halifax to face Saint Mary’s to wrap up their weekend, while UPEI is now off until next Friday night when they host Dalhousie. 

Burns scores two in Axemen loss

The Dalhousie Tigers earned their first win of the season with a 4-3 shootout win over the Acadia Axemen on Saturday night in Halifax.  

The Axemen opened the scoring halfway through the first period. Ethan Ernst (Weyburn, SK) found Brady Burns (Port Williams, NS) with a cross ice pass which Burns put home in the top corner of Nicholas Chenard’s (Tecumseh, ON) net.  

Dalhousie returned from the first intermission with a fire lit under them. Alec Belanger (Quebec, PQ) pulled the Tigers level just three minutes into the second period off a feed from Evan MacKinnon (Beaverbank, NS).  

Fifteen minutes later the Tigers went on the powerplay and Belanger got his second of the game off a scramble in front of the Acadia net to put the Tigers up 2-1. The second period would end with the Tigers holding their first lead of the season.  

Burns opened the scoring in third frame with his second of the game, banking in his own rebound off a feed from Zach Jones (North Falmouth, MA).  

Late in the frame, Derek Gentile (Sydney, NS) broke down the wing with five minutes left in the game and was able to beat Thomas Couture (Levis, QC) with a shot off the post and in. Minutes later Acadia tied it up again, but this time it was Erst getting his first of the season on a breakaway.  

Neither team could break the tie in the final minutes of the game, forcing an overtime period. After an uneventful overtime period, the Tigers and Axemen went to a shootout.  

The Tigers elected to shoot first, sending Gentile out for the open attempt. Gentile found the back of the net and scored the only goal of the shootout, giving the Tigers a 4-3 win and their first points of the season.  

Alec Belanger was named the player of the game for his two-goal performance. 

The Dalhousie Tigers hit the road next weekend for a New Brunswick road trip, visiting UNB on Friday and the Aigles Bleus on Saturday.  

The Axemen return home to host the UPEI Panthers on Friday at 7pm.  

Written by Chelsea Norris, Dalhousie Athletics  

Couture with 31 saves in Axemen loss

The Acadia Axemen and the StFX X-Men squared off in Wolfville to open the regular season on Friday night, with the visitors coming out on top 3-2 in a hard-fought battle.

 

The story of the opening period was the goaltending, as both netminders made save after save, including a number of highlight reel saves both by Acadia’s Thomas Couture, who made a glove save to rob a StFX forward of an open net, and Joseph Raaymakers, who made at least 4 saves on point blank shots by Acadia from the slot. The period ended scoreless with Acadia getting the edge in shots on goal 17-14.

 

The second period saw only one goal, as StFX’s Struthers buried a rebound past Couture to make it 1-0. Again, both netminders were the story, turning aside the offensive attacks. The shots after 2 periods were 33-28 in favour of the Axemen.

 

The teams exploded with 4 goals in the 3^rd period including 3 goals within 2:22, as Bailey Peach tied the game at 1 on the powerplay when he one timed a pass from Charlie Desroches into the back of the StFX net at 3:18. Cole Nagy picked up the second assist on the goal. Then just 53 seconds later, at 4:11 of the period, Brendan Sellan put a backhander between the legs of Raaymakers to give the Axemen a 2-1 lead. Zack Jones picked up the assist on the goal.

 

StFX answered right back though just over a minute later at 5:40 when Declan Smith tied the game at 2. The X-Men regained the lead on the powerplay for good when Wiles let a shot go from the point that beat a screened Thomas Couture at 11:57 of the 3^rd period.

 

Acadia pressed for the equalizer on a 4 minute powerplay late in the 3^rd period but couldn’t beat Raaymakers. Final shots on goal in the game, Acadia with 51, StFX with 34.

 

The Axemen were without Peyton Hoyt who was serving the final game of his 3 game suspension dating back to game 2 of the SMU semi-final playoff series, and also Nick Deakin-Poot, who was serving his 1^st of 2 games in his suspension from an altercation in the final game of the same SMU series.

 

Acadia heads to Halifax on Saturday night to face the Dal Tigers (0-1), while StFX hosts SMU (1-0).

Young Acadia team looks to grow from last year’s experience

The Acadia Axemen will kick off their AUS regular season on Friday night when they host the StFX X-Men at 7pm at the Andrew H. McCain Arena. The Axemen upset StFX in the 1^st round of the AUS playoffs last year, knocking the X-Men off 2-0 in a best of three series. Fast forward to September, and the Acadia Axemen had a strong preseason, going 3-1, including two wins over Dalhousie and a victory over UPEI. Their only exhibition loss came at the hands of the Queen’s Gaels.

 

Looking forward to the upcoming regular season for Acadia, much has changed with the Axemen lineup since March, with 8 new players joining the team this year, including a new goaltending tandem. In addition to the 8 rookies on the team, the Axemen have 8 second year players, which means the players in their 1^st two years in USports will make up nearly two-thirds of the team.

 

We asked Coach Darren Burns what he saw from his team in the pre-season, and what his team needs to work on to be successful in the regular season, he said, “The exhibition season was very beneficial and informative for our staff to evaluate our team moving forward. There were a lot of positives, but without question we have to quickly mold our team identity.

 

To run with the top teams in this league we will have to be meticulous in the defensive zone and very structured defensively in the neutral zone. These are definite areas of focus.

 

We have made some strides offensively, but we need to focus on getting pucks to the net and being more of a blue paint team. At the end of the day this is a league where you have to pay the price to gain space 5 on 5. We have a veteran D, with some nice additions to the mix, we need them to be the stabilizing force to start the season.”

 

Let’s take a deeper look at the forward, defence, and goaltender positions for the Axemen heading into the regular season:

Forwards

The Axemen have injected much needed offensive punch by adding the Saint John SeaDogs all-time leading scorer, and Port Williams’ native, Brady Burns. The addition of power forward Ethan Ernst will be a key to success, while Brandon Mairs will give Acadia depth upfront. Acadia will look for continued progression from Falmouth’s Bailey Peach, Enfield’s Liam Kidney, Corson Hopwo, Brendan Sellan, and Cole Nagy. All had strong rookie campaigns last season scoring between 16-19 points each, and increased production will be important for Acadia to increase their offensive output from last season.

Peyton Hoyt, Nick Deakin-Poot, Zack Jones, and Adam McMaster will be counted on for their strong two way play both in their own zone as well as adding scoring pop to make the Axemen a well-balanced deep offensive team. Colin Marshall will continue to add depth for Acadia at forward. Graduating or moving on from last year’s lineup is captain Jack Flaman, Eric Henderson, Keegan Stevenson, Cole Rafuse, & Matt McKim.

 

Defence

The Axemen defensive corps was arguably their strongest position last season, and with the additions of Kentville’s Cam Whynot, a former 3^rd round pick of the Calgary Flames, former Saint John SeaDogs captain Charlie Desroches, and the OHL’s Flint Firebirds’ Tyler Deline, this may be the strongest blue line we’ve seen with the program in years. So much so, that two of the regular defenceman in Reilly Webb and Brendan Tomilson have been moved up to play forward through the exhibition schedule. The new recruits along with returning players Morgan Nauss, Orie Mainolfi, Luke Zazula, Merrick Rippon, & Hudson Wilson will make it a grind for the opposition to play against Acadia.

 

Goaltending

With Conor McCollum graduating last season, the Axemen added two highly touted goalies coming out of the junior ranks in Thomas Couture and Brayden Peters. Couture won a Memorial Cup with the Saint John SeaDogs in 2022, along with Burns & Desroches, and starred for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies last season. He has had a very strong showing in the pre-season games he has played in. Peters played his entire WHL career with the Calgary Hitmen, and was invited to the Colorado Avalanche Rookie camp earlier in September. Acadia believes with this tandem, they will give their team a chance to win on every given night. Zachary Paputsakis is back with the team as the third goalie, and will be relied on to be sharp when called upon.

 

The Axemen struggled on the powerplay last year, converting on just 11% of their chances, however, based on the exhibition games, that struggle looks to be rectified as Acadia has not only converted on a number of powerplays, but the puck movement and overall scoring chances on the man advantage has greatly improved.

 

As is the case every year in the ultra competitive AUS conference, the Axemen will have tough competition as perennial favourites UNB have re-tooled and will be ready to defend their AUS championship, while Saint Mary’s and StFX will no doubt be in the mix again at the top of the conference. Regardless of who the opponent is for any game in the AUS, every game will be a battle to the finish.

Get your season tickets for what is shaping up to be an exciting season on the ice, and cheer on your Acadia Axemen; tickets available at the Acadia Box Office or online at acadiau.universitytickets.com

Hopwo & Peach score in Axemen victory

The Acadia Axemen wrapped up their pre-season action on Friday night in Wolfville as they downed the UPEI Panthers 2-1, to improve their exhibition record to 3 wins and 1 loss.

The Axemen opened the scoring early as Brady Burns carried the puck over the UPEI blue line and found Corson Hopwo cruising into the slot, Hopwo one timed the pass behind the Panthers Capriotti, to give Acadia a 1-0 lead at 2:41 of the 1st period.

That was the only scoring in the period, shots on goal were 11-10 for Acadia after 1 period. UPEI was 0 for 2 on the powerplay, while Acadia was 0 for 1.

UPEI had the only goal of the 2^nd period as Ben McFarlane scored off a rebound from a point shot, beating Brayden Peters to tie the game at 1 at the 8 minute mark.

Axemen got into penalty trouble but were able to kill off all 4 penalties in the period, as UPEI was 0 for 6 on the powerplay after 2 periods.

Acadia split the game between their two goaltenders, and after making the switch at the midway point of the game, Thomas Couture made a highlight reel save as he dove across the crease on what looked to be a sure goal for UPEI, but the 1^st year Axemen kept the puck out and kept the game tied.

The shots after 2 periods were 24-20 in favour of the visiting Panthers.

The Axemen took a 2-1 lead early in the 3^rd period on the powerplay as Bailey Peach took a pass from Brady Burns, and one timed the puck into the Panthers net.

Acadia killed off a barrage of penalties through the mid point of the 3^rd period, as they saw themselves down 2 men on 2 different occasions, but backed by solid goaltending from Thomas Couture, the Axemen held their 2-1 lead.

UPEI pushed for the equalizer, pulling their goaltender in the last minute and a half for an extra attacker, but the Axemen held on for the win.

Final shots on goal after 3 periods were 42 for UPEI and 32 for Acadia. UPEI was 0 for 9 on the powerplay, while Acadia was 1 for 4.

Thomas Couture was stellar in net in the second half of the game, as he turned away all 25 shots he faced.

The Axemen now prepare to open their season at home next Friday as they host the StFX X-Men at 7pm at the Andrew H. McCain Arena. Get your tickets at the Acadia Box Office or online at acadiau.universitytickets.com