Category: Game Recaps

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Harper with a goal & 3 assists in Axemen win

WOLFVILLE, N.S – The AUS consolation series got off to an exciting start, as the USports No. 6 Acadia Axemen doubled up on the No. 7 Saint Mary’s Huskies for a final score of 6-3 on Monday night.

Axemen forward, and Subway First Star of the Night, Stephen Harper had a solid performance in his first home game since sustaining an injury in the first round of the playoffs, registering three assists and the game-winner.

Despite being even in shots, the Axemen dominated the first period, as they held a 3-1 lead heading into the second period.

The first goal of the game came when Axemen forward Stephen Harper curled in the on the right side of the offensive zone, protecting the puck.

As Harper went behind the Huskies net, he threw a backhand pass out to an open Remy Giftopoulos, who lifted the puck over the Saint Mary’s Eric Brassard for the 1-0 lead.

Acadia added to their lead roughly 30 seconds later, with a power-play marker from forward Sam Fioretti, who redirected a wrist shot from the point by defenseman Matthew Pufahl.

For their third goal, the Axemen got offence from first year forward Ryan Foss, who lobbed a wrist shot from against the left boards past the screened goalie into the far-right corner of the net.

Saint Mary’s responded eight seconds later, off the faceoff with a 2-on-1 rush, finished by forward Connor McGlynn, who lifted the puck over the blocker of the Robert Steeves to make it 3-1 heading into the second.Read more »

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Acadia to face Saint Mary’s in Consolation round

Antigonish, NS – The StFX X-Men have advanced to the Subway AUS championship series with a 6-5 victory over the Acadia Axemen Thursday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre in Game 5 of the AUS semifinals. The X-Men won the series 3-2 in front of a sell-out crowd of 1800 fans. 

The game started with a ceremonial puck drop from Olympic hockey silver medalist Blayre Turnbull, a native of Stellarton, NS, just 30 minutes up the road from StFX University. Blayre’s brother Brent is in his fourth season with the X-Men squad. 

In a game that looked to be over after 20 minutes of play as the X-Men scored five first period goals, the Axemen came storming back and nearly mounted a comeback victory. 

StFX opened the game with three quick goals within a two-minute span. Jagger Dirk (Penticton, BC) scored on the power play off a blast from just inside the middle of the blue line off a Kristoff Kontos (Pentanguishene, ON) pass 3:41 into the game.  

Adam Stevens (Bedford, NS) potted the second X goal at 5:04 after bringing the puck up through the neutral zone and then wristing a shot around the Acadia defense that beat netminder Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, NB) up high.  

Nathan Pancel (Ottawa, ON) scored a minute and a half later, as he took a pass in the slot from Regan Spears (Port Hood, NS) and roofed it into the Acadia net.  

The Axemen replaced goaltender Robert Steeves after the Pancel goal as four X-Men shots resulted in the three goals to open the first period. First-year netminder Dawson Carty (Burlington, ON) who hadn’t seen any game action yet in the series came in as the replacement. 

The X-Men got one past Carty four minutes later as Kontos, on the forecheck, stole the puck in the Axemen zone and broke in alone, scoring an unassisted marker to increase the StFX lead to 4-0. 

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StFX scores late powerplay goal in 4-3 victory

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The USports No. 3 StFX X-Men managed to stay alive in the best-of-five series on Monday night in Wolfville, with a 4-3 win over the No. 7 Acadia Axemen to tie the series at 2-2.

AUS Most Valuable Player Chase Marchand deservedly received Subway First Star of the Night honours on the night for another strong performance to help his team win.

An evenly matched opening period between the two teams showed on the scoreboard, with the teams tied at 1-1 heading into the second.

The X-Men opened the scoring 5:56 into the first frame, on a goal by StFX defenseman Daniel Robertson, who came in off the blue-line and ripped a shot into the top right corner of the Axemen net.

Acadia evened the score late in the period, when defenseman Stephen Woodworth sent a cross-ice pass to forward Boston Leier who fired a low wrist shot past the screened Marchand.

By the end of the period, the X-Men led 11-10 in shots.

The second period mirrored the first. StFX capitalized on an untimely change by an Axemen defenseman due to an equipment issue, with StFX forward Matt Needham scoring on a scramble in front of the Acadia net to make it 2-1.Read more »

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Clarke scores lone goal in victory

WOLFVILLE, N.S – It was a nail-biter on Sunday night in Wolfville, as the USports No. 7 Acadia Axemen took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series with a 1-0 win over the No. 3 StFX X-Men.

The game was dominated by the goaltenders, with Axemen goaltender Robert Steeves and X-Men goaltender Chase Marchand taking second and third stars of the night, respectively.

Neither team was able to score in the first period that saw the Axemen outshoot the X-Men 11-3.

The period saw no shortage of penalties, as the teams combined for 22 minutes in penalties, including a ruckus that broke out in front of the StFX net.

Acadia nearly scored when defenseman Geoff Schemitsch broke in on the right wing and slid a pass in front of the net that slid under the pad of the X-Men goalie, but stayed out of the net.

The Axemen broke the scoreless tie at 3:11 into the second for the only goal of the period, taking their 1-0 lead into the third.

Axemen forward, and Subway First Star of the Game, Michael Clarke came out in front of the X-Men net and lifted a backhand over the glove of the X-Men goaltender Chase Marchand to make it 1-0. The goal would be the eventual game-winner for the Axemen.Read more »

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Special teams the difference for StFX in Game 2

ANTIGONISH, NS – The StFX X-Men evened up the Subway AUS best-of-five semifinal series with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Acadia Axemen Friday night in front of over 1000 fans at the Charles V. Keating Centre. 

All three X-Men goals came on special teams play as they had a pair of power play markers in the second period and a shorthanded goal in the third to seal up the Game 2 victory. 

The teams remained scoreless after the first period of play as StFX held a slight 9-8 advantage in shots. Acadia was unable to connect on two power play opportunities in the opening period and StFX was 0-1 on the man-advantage. 

Santino Centorame (Mississauga, ON) had the X-Men’s best scoring chance five minutes into the second period when he rang one of the Axemen’s goal post. StFX also had two power play opportunities early on in the period but were unable to capitalize.  

They finally connected on the power play at 10:43 when Kristoff Kontos (Pentanguishene, ON) fed Jagger Dirk (Penticton, BC) the puck at the top of the face-off circle as he skated in and unleashed a shot that beat Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, NB) in the Axemen net. Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, NS) also assisted on the play. 

The X-Men increased their lead to 2-0 off another power play goal late in the second period with only 33 seconds left in the frame. Bryson Cianfrone (Stoney Creek, ON) fed a cross-ice pass to Cole MacDonald (Wetaskawin, AB) who whipped a quick shot into the Acadia net. Centorame also picked up a helper on the play. 

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DiGiacinto with 3 points in Acadia win

ANTIGONISH, NS – In a battle of U SPORTS ranked teams, the No. 3 StFX X-Men fell 4-2 to the No. 7 Acadia Axemen Thursday evening in front of over 800 hometown fans as the Axemen earned a key victory on the road in Game 1 of the Subway AUS semifinal best-of-five series at the Charles V. Keating Centre. 

All indications are that the two teams are in for a close, hard-fought semifinal series. The puck hadn’t even dropped on Game 1 as players from both teams exchanged words and minor scuffles at the start of warm-up.   

Freshman X-Men defenseman Santino Centorame (Mississauga, ON) opened the scoring in the game with a power play marker at 2:47 off a shot from the point that looked to have deflected past netminder Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, NB) off one of his own defenseman. Michael Clarke (London, ON) and Kristoff Kontos (Pentanguishene, ON) had the helpers on the play for the X-Men. 

The Axemen nearly tied it up minutes later as Kyle Farrell (Howie Corner, NS) streaked in alone on the X net but was stopped by AUS most valuable player Chase Marchand (Halifax, NS). 

The visitors did tie it up at the 7:49 mark when Sam Fiorertti (Calgary, AB) shoveled in a rebound past Marchand after the initial save was made on a Liam Maaskant (Clinton, ON) shot. AUS second team all-star Boston Leier (Saskatoon, SK) also assisted on the play. 

The score remained tied at 1-1 at the conclusion of the first period, despite an X-Men power play late in the frame that generated several shots on net, but Steeves held his ground in the Axemen net. 

Shots favored the X-Men 12-10 in the opening period. 

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Acadia scores 4 in 3rd period in comeback victory

HALIFAX, N.S. – In game two of the best of three playoff series, the Dalhousie Tigers faced elimination at home against the Acadia Axemen. Despite getting outplayed in the first two periods, the Axemen put together a tremendous final frame with 4 unanswered goals to claim the 4-2 win, and 2-0 series victory. 

In a hard hitting, physical start to the game, the Axemen tested Corbin Boes (Saskatoon, SK) with lots of shots early, but no threatening chances. 

The Tigers looked fantastic on the penalty kill early, only giving up three shots on two opportunities. Penalties were becoming an issue for the Tigers however, spending six of the first twelve minutes of the game a man short.  

With five minutes to go in the period, Tigers got their first power play opportunity, and made it count. After a scrum along the boards, Miles McGurty (Hoboken, NJ) sent a beautiful no-look pass across the slot to Jackson Playfair (Fort St. James, BC) that had Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, NB) going the wrong way. Playfair sent a pass in front and Alex Pawelczyk (Sterling Heights, MI) had a wide open net for the tap-in to open up the scoring for the Tigers.  

After a last minute flurry of shots from the Axemen, the score remained 1-0 for the Tigers heading into the first intermission.  

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Leier notches 2 as Axemen win 5-2

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U SPORTS No. 8 ranked Acadia Axemen gave the home crowd a Valentine’s Day to remember with a 5-2 win over the Dalhousie Tigers to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three AUS quarterfinal series.

Acadia dominated play for the majority of the game, including a strong performance from goaltender Robert Steeves and two goals from Subway First Star of the Night, Boston Leier.

Although the Tigers struck first, the Axemen scored two unanswered goals to take a 2-1 lead heading into the second.

Dalhousie opened the scoring, with 5:27 remaining in the first period, when defenseman, and second star of the night, Colton Heffley redirected a shot in front over the glove of the Axemen goaltender.

The Tigers lead was short-lived, as Axemen forward Boston Leier tied the game roughly three minutes later.

Leier zipped behind the net Dalhousie net and picked up a rebound in front and buried it past the sprawling Tigers goaltender Corbin Boes.Read more »

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Harper scores OT winner, wins AUS scoring race

The Acadia Axemen (18-10-2) finished out the 2017-18 men’s hockey regular season with a matchup against the U de M Aigles Bleus on Saturday night in Moncton. After defeating USports #2 Ranked UNB last Saturday night, and #6 ranked SMU Huskies on Friday night, the Axemen had put their destiny in their own hands to earn third place in the AUS standings. All that stood in the way was a victory over the Aigles Bleus (3-25-2).

The Aigles Bleus came into the game with nothing to lose, already out of the playoff scene, and they played with their heart on their sleeve giving the Axemen all they could handle. It took extra time but the Axemen prevailed with a 3-2 overtime victory to secure the 3rd place finish in the ultra competitive AUS conference.

U de M got on the board first when Carl Marois scored at 7:19 of the opening period, putting the puck past Axemen netminder Robert Steeves, but the Axemen answered back when 4th year defenceman Matt Pufahl took a pass from Remy Giftopoulos and beat Moncton goalie Brandon Thibeau to tie the game at 1 at 10:40 of the opening period.

Acadia took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd period when Cristiano DiGiacinto scored his first goal in an Axemen uniform, after joining the team in January. Assists went to Chance Braid & Geoff Schemitsch on the goal at 5:03. But the Axemen lead was short lived as Carl Marois scored his second of the night, this time on the powerplay to tie the game at two.Read more »

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Leier nets a pair, Steeves earns shutout

Wolfville, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen (17-10-2) ended their regular season on home ice on a high note, defeating the U SPORTS No. 6 ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies 3-0. Axemen goaltender and Subway First Star of the Night Robert Steeves turned aside all 24 shots by the Huskies for his second shutout of the season.

“TheGuys played awesome tonight. They let me see the puck. I let go of some funny rebounds and the guys were able to clear it and take the guys sticks. It was a great win,” Steeves said following the win.

“We knew it was a big one with third place on the line. We’ve been through a bit of a slump and the win against UNB was a stepping stone and I thought we played a hell of a game tonight.,” added Steeves.

Neither team was able to score in the first. Despite chances from both sides, the game remained a scoreless affair heading into the second period.

By the end of the first period, the Axemen held an 8-7 shot lead.

Axemen goaltender Robert Steeves made a series of impressive saves, including a diving glove, save, on the Huskies second power-play in the opening period to keep his team in the game.Read more »