Category: Game Recaps

Acadia Downs Dal 7-2 in Liverpool, NS

The Acadia Axemen took to the road Friday for an AUS hockey exhibition game against the Dalhousie Tigers in Liverpool on Nova Scotia’s beautiful South Shore. The game was played at the Queens Memorial Arena.

The Axemen were victorious, downing the Tigers by a score of 7-2.

Acadia’s Brett Thompson opened the scoring in the first period, converting on the power play. Not long after that linemate Mike Cazzola got his first of two on the night to put the Axemen up 2-0. Before the period ended, Dalhousie closed the gap to one with a goal.

There was no scoring in the 2^nd period, but the third period made up for the lack of scoring in the second. It started with Scott Trask getting on the board, but the Tigers battled back again, this time on the powerplay, to make it a 3-2 game.

From there the Axemen took over scoring 4 straight goals. Captain Liam Heelis answered back to regain Acadia’s 2 goal lead, Mike Cazzola notched his second of the game, and Travis Gibbons and Joel Ridgeway rounded out the scoring for Acadia.

The Axemen are heading to the United States next weekend for 2 exhibition games against NCAA opponents in Quinnipiac and Northeastern. The game against Quinnipiac is Saturday at 8pm Atlantic, and Sunday’s game versus Northeastern will be at 5pm Atlantic time.

Acadia opens up their AUS regular season October 11^th on the road against the Dal Tigers at the Halifax Forum.

Acadia defeated Moncton 4-2 Sept. 18 in men’s hockey in an exhibition match in Cocagne, N.B.

Rookie Boston Leier scored twice for the Axemen; Sam Fioretti and Mike Cazzola each added a goal for the Acadia side.

The Aigles Bleus will visit Wolfville Sept. 24 and then the Axemen travel to Liverpool for an exhibition game against Dal Sept. 26

Written by John Decoste Posted on KingCountyNews.ca Published on September 17, 2014

The Acadia hockey Axemen got their 2014-2015 season off to a positive start, scoring a 3-2 win over the Dalhousie Tigers in their pre-season opener Sept. 17 at the Kings Mutual Century Centre in Berwick.

Rookie Zach Franko’s goal at 16:56 of the third period stood up as the game-winner, the only goal of the final 20 minutes after the teams had ended the first period tied 1-1 and the second deadlocked 2-2.

Andrew Rieder opened the scoring for the Tigers with an even-strength goal at 3:44 of the first period. The Axemen got on the board about 10 minutes later, at 13:34 when Taylor Makin scored on the power play.

Boston Leier, one of several first-year players in the Acadia lineup, gave the Axemen a 2-1 lead with an even-strength goal at 16:26 of the second period.

Before the period ended, the Axemen got into some penalty trouble, taking three straight minor penalties. Tanner Williams made them pay for their indiscretion, tying the score for the Tigers at 19:49 with his team enjoying a five-on-three pwer play.

Acadia had an 11-6 edge in shots in the first period, Dal outshot the Axemen 15-14 in the second, and Acadia had a solid 15-4 advantage in the third for a 40-25 edge overall. Each team scored once on the power play.

Final Curtain Falls On Acadia’s Hockey Season

The Acadia Axemen needed to win their next game at the CIS National Championships to have a chance to move on to the championship game.  The Axemen unexpectedly lost their opener, a 4-2 loss to the Windsor Lancers.  A lack of team discipline helped in that loss, as the Lancers converted twice on the power play.

Their fate no longer in their own hands, the Axemen got set to face the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night.  The hometown Huskies hadn’t played in a few weeks, and were raring to go.  The Axemen needed a win to give themselves a chance…an Acadia win by three goals and a Lancers loss on Saturday would put the Axemen in good shape to reach the championship final.

The win never materialized.  The Huskies stole the game in the last five minutes, scoring the winner at the 17:58 mark of the third, en route to a 3-2 win.  The loss effectively ended the Axemen season.

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Acadia falls 4-2 to Windsor

Something funny happened to the Acadia Axemen in Saskatchewan as they began their quest for the 2014 University Cup title.  The problem was, no one was laughing on the Acadia side.

The Axemen began the hunt ranked #2 in Canada in CIS against the University of Windsor.  The Lancers were ranked #3.  The Axemen dominated the Lancers in the first period, but were only able to solve Windsor netminder Parker Van Buskirk once, as Mike Cazzola pounced on his own rebound and buried it only 1:19 in.  The Axemen outshot the Lancers 10-4 in that opening frame, only to see Van Buskirk slam the door shut.  He held his team in until they could score the equalizer, an effort by Windsor’s Richard Cameron that ended up in the Acadia net.

Acadia started the second period with a bang, as Cazzola found CIS MVP Liam Heelis in the slot with a perfect pass.  Heelis made no mistake, snapping the puck by a helpless Van Buskirk and giving the Axemen a 2-1 lead 1:43 in.  But that turned out to be all they could muster.  The Lancers frustrated the Axemen into several ill-timed penalties.  One could argue not all the calls were warranted, but in the end, they were called, and Acadia didn’t respond well.  The Lancers tied the game at 12:43 on a power play goal by Drew Palmer.

The Axemen seemed to fade as the game wore on, and the Lancers took complete advantage of their lack of urgency, swarming Acadia netminder Evan Mosher, who didn’t have one of his better games.  They outshot the Axemen 24-17 in the final two periods, including a 10-4 shot advantage in the third.  In the end, a power play goal by Kenny Bradford and an even strength goal by Mike Christou sealed Acadia’s fate in the third period.

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The Acadia Axemen are headed to the CIS championships in Saskatoon!

The Axemen completed the victory with a 3-1 win over the Saint Mary’s Huskies Monday night in Halifax.  The victory clinched the AUS Conference title for the Axemen, and sends them to Saskatoon as the AUS representative in the CIS National tournament.

The Axemen, still trying to solve Huskies netminder Anthony Peters after his stellar Game 3 performance, reversed their fortunes on the power play.  Dustin Ekelman scored for Acadia with the man advantage, giving the Axemen a 1-0 lead and forcing the Huskies to abandon their physical style of play a bit.  Now having to play catch up, the Huskies continued to battle, and it paid off at the seven minute mark of the second period, when Steven Shipley redirected a harmless shot from Matt Tipoff past a helpless Evan Mosher.  The score was tied, and the Huskies continued to swarm.

But disaster struck for the Huskies less than eight minutes later, as Saint Mary’s defenseman Cameron Wind handed the puck to former Halifax Moosehead Travis Randell in front of his own net.  Randell made no mistake, faking out Peters and scoring what eventually would hold up to be the game winner.Read more »

Saint Mary’s Fends Off Elimination With Game 3 Win

The Acadia Axemen walked into the Halifax Forum Sunday with a chance to wrap up the AUS Conference championship series.

They will walk in Monday with a chance to do the same.  The Saint Mary’s Huskies gritted out a 2-1 win behind their goaltender, Anthony Peters, and his stellar play.  Peters stopped 23 of 24 shots, many of them the difficult kind.  The Huskies jumped on their goalie’s back as he carried them to victory.

This game had all the explosive potential of a spark in a keg of dynamite.  The two teams have developed a definite playoff hatred for one another, as evidenced by the combined 118 penalty minutes they recorded.

There was a scary moment in the game, as Geoff Schemitsch took a vicious hit along the boards and was unable to get off the ice under his own power.  There was no word on his condition going into Game 4.

Lucas Bloodoff got the festivities started for Saint Mary’s in the second as he scored on a rebound off Acadia goaltender Evan Mosher.  Mosher, forced into a great save, could only watch as the rebound squeaked away from him and Bloodoff buried it.  Mosher recorded 18 saves of his own in the contest, almost matching Peters save for save.Read more »

Axemen Move To Within One Win Of AUS Championship

The Acadia Axemen and Saint Mary’s Huskies renewed their hockey rivalry Friday night in Wolfville in Game 2 of the AUS Conference championship series.  Despite a much better performance from Huskies’ goaltender Anthony Peters, the Huskies still fell behind in the series 2-0 of the best of five.  Acadia took Game 2 with a 3-0 win.

It was a sharp contrast to Game 1, which the Axemen took by a 6-3 score.  After a scoreless first period, the Axemen broke through at 6:37 of the second, as Travis Randell scored off a fantastic pass from Alex Beaton.  The Axemen were up 1-0, a rare treat as Peters turned in a much improved performance from the night before.

Acadia netminder Evan Mosher matched his counterpart save for save in this one, however, stifling all 19 shots he faced for the shutout victory.  Peters stopped 20 of 21 shots he faced.  He was on the bench when Acadia scored two empty net goals – one from Travis Gibbons and one from Dustin Ekelman – in the last two minutes of the game, as Saint Mary’s had pulled Peters for their sixth attacker.  It was a move that ultimately backfired as Acadia sealed the deal and moved within one victory of the CIS championships to be held in Saskatoon later this month.

Watch the video highlights of the game here:

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