GAME PREVIEW: Acadia Axemen at St. FX X-Men
Category: Game Recaps
Acadia Survives Late Scare To Continue Winning Streak
Axemen Edge Tommies 7-6 in Overtime
The Acadia Axemen welcomed the St. Thomas Tommies to Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville Saturday night. The Axemen were riding a two game winning streak going into the game. What was supposed to be a convincing win for the Axemen turned into a 7-6 overtime nail biter.
The Tommies struck first on a strange bounce that beat rookie netminder Robert Steeves early in the first. Then they sat back and watched as the Axemen began a 19 shot barrage on their netminder. Luke Lee-Knight allowed five goals as the Axemen simply rolled over the Tommies in the first. When the dust settled, the Axemen had built a comfortable 5-1 lead. Mike Cazzola scored twice, with Liam Heelis, Remy Giftopoulos, and Matthew Pufahl adding singles. Ranklyn Campbell replied for the Tommies.
Acadia held a 19-14 advantage in shots in the first period.
The game seemed well in hand. When St. Thomas replaced Lee-Knight with Tyson Teichmann in goal, it seemed to be a sidenote. But St. Thomas proved what happens when hard work meets opportunity. They drew upon an incident in which their goaltender got run over behind his net. The incident sparked the Tommies to a new level. They scored three times in the second, two on the power play, to draw within one goal when the period drew to a close.
Zach Hodder scored twice, with Brandon Childerley adding a single. Teichmann turned out to be the ace in the sleeve of the Tommies, as he stuffed all 15 shots the Axemen threw at him. The Axemen outshot the Tommies 15-11.
The third period turned into a sluggish affair, with the Axemen trying to nurse the one goal lead, and the Tommies desperately trying to tie the game. The Axemen had three straight power plays, and while the Tommies bent, they didn’t break. They kept pressing, but when Heelis scored his second goal of the game late in the third, it seemed as though Acadia had dodged a bullet.Read more »
Axemen Make it 2-0 with Win Over Panthers
Acadia Hosts UPEI In Home Opener
The Acadia Axemen hockey club thrilled their fans in the 2013-14 season with a dream run that ended just short of their ultimate goal–another CIS championship banner. It’s now the start of the 2014-15 season, and this year’s Axemen are just as hungry.
After undergoing some roster turnover after last season, Acadia looked impressive in their first game of the season, a 4-0 win over the Dalhousie Tigers. On October 17, they welcomed the UPEI Panthers to the newly renamed Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville. In their first game in Wolfville of the new campaign, Acadia defeated UPEI 3-1 in a game that went down to the wire.
The Axemen jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, with Alex Beaton and Travis Gibbons finding the net. The story of the period, however, was goaltender Brandon Glover. Glover made 12 saves in the frame, some of the spectacular variety. He weathered a five on three power play opportunity, kicked aside a two on one one time chance, and gave the Panthers fits all period long.
The Panther regrouped a bit in the second, managing to solve Glover once on a goal by Matthew Brenton. They drew within one goal, but couldn’t solve Glover again, despite several close calls. Acadia outshot UPEI by an 11-10 margin.Read more »
The Production Line Produces
Acadia Axemen down Dalhousie Tigers 4-0 in AUS Season Opener
The Axemen’s production line started off the season doing what they do best, produce. The top scoring line from a year ago of Liam Heelis, Mike Cazzola, and Brett Thompson picked right up from last year, scoring 3 of Acadia’s 4 goals, and leading the Axemen to a 4-0 victory over the Dalhousie Tigers.
The Axemen outshot the Tigers by a wide margin, with Acadia blasting 45 shots on goal, to Dal’s 16. The Tigers started rookie goaltender Corbin Boes in goal and he played very well, holding the Axemen at bay on many great powerplay chances.
Acadia went with second year goaltender Brandon Glover in goal, he recorded 16 saves for the shutout.
Coach Burns was pleased with the win, noting the battles were won in the trenches tonight saying, “It was a very tough opening game. Dal are vastly improved, they are well coached, can skate, and work hard. This game was a battle from start to finish.”
Acadia opened up the scoring just under 5 minutes into the game when Mike Cazzola fed a beautiful saucer pass through two Dal defenceman, to a streaking Brett Thompson who cradled the pass and put the puck past Boes. Travis Gibbons picked up the second assist on the play.
It looked like that would be the end of the scoring in the first period of play, until Scott Trask was able to find the back of the net with just 30 seconds remaining in the period. Dylan Anderson and rookie Remy Giftopolous picked up the assists on the goal that gave the Axemen a 2-0 lead.
At 6:36 over the 2nd period, Brett Thompson picked up his second marker of the night, taking a pass from Liam Heelis and sliding it home. Daniel Poliziani picked up the second assist on the play. That was the only goal of the second period.Read more »
Axemen make it a perfect weekend, downing Northeastern
Acadia knocks off No. 16 Huskies in exhibition play, 3-2
Axemen coach Darren Burns believed the weekend was a building block for his team saying, “It was a great weekend for our program. The team worked very hard, we played two very good teams in Northeastern and Quinnipiac. We need to make sure we use this to help us prepare to play next weekend.”
BOSTON – Zach Aston-Reese and Kevin Roy both scored for the No. 16 Northeastern men’s ice hockey team, but an Acadia goal midway through the third period sealed the victory for the Axemen in exhibition play on Sunday afternoon at Matthews Arena, 3-2.
The Huskies fought back in the final period to tie the game with 11:41 left in regulation, but Acadia fired right back with the eventual game-winning goal from Alex Beaton less than two minutes later.
Clay Witt (nine saves) and Derick Roy (15 saves) split time in goal for NU, which outshot Acadia 34-27 in the game. NU converted on one of its five power play opportunities in the game while holding the Axemen to an 0-of-4 showing on the man advantage.
NU came out and took control of the game early, outshooting the Axemen 11-7 and scoring the period’s lone goal midway through the frame. Aston-Reese created Northeastern’s first scoring chance of the afternoon when he broke through the Acadia defense and went in alone on Glover. Stephen Woodworth raced to catch up, and hauled down Aston-Reese in the act of shooting, resulting in a penalty shot being awarded to the Huskies. Aston-Reese took the penalty shot, beating Glover five-hole for the score.
Acadia had a chance to tie the game on their lone power play of the frame when the power play unit collapsed in on Witt, but the NU defense stood tall in the final seconds of the minor penalty to Jake Schechter.
Garret Cockerill nearly put the Huskies up two late in the period with NU on the power play when he fired a shot through traffic that rang off the crossbar.Read more »
Acadia posts 4-1 victory over Quinnipiac in CIS/NCAA Exhibition
Axemen take advantage of special teams to top Bobcats
HAMDEN, Conn. – The Quinnipiac University men’s ice hockey team lost to Acadia, 4-1, in an exhibition game at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports in Hamden, Conn.The Bobcats scored early in the first period when Derek Smith’s shot from the point was knocked down in front of Acadia goalie Brandon Glover. K. J. Tiefenwerth picked up the rebound and zipped the puck across the crease to Tim Clifton in the opposite face-off circle. Clifton’s one-timer beat Glover stick-side to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.
The second period tilted towards Acadia, as the Axemen scored three times to jump out to a 3-1 lead, scoring a short-handed goal and converting on two power plays. Liam Heelis scored the Axemen’s first goal of the game when he picked up a puck in the neutral zone, made a move around a Quinnipiac defensman and ended up with a one-on-one opportunity. Heelis faked left, brought the puck around to his right and then beat Quinnipiac freshman goalie Sean Lawrence with the backhand.
Less than two minutes later, Acadia worked the puck in deep with Boston Leier taking a pass from Mike Cazzola and firing on Lawrence from the slot. The puck bounced out of Lawrence’s pads to his left where Leier was able to get a stick on it and punch it past Lawrence to give Acadia a 2-1 lead. With just under six minutes to play in the period, Acadia skated with a 5-on-3 advantage with two Bobcats in the box. Acadia moved the puck around the Bobcats’ half of the ice before Cazzola zipped a pass across the Bobcats zone to Matthew Pufahl, who touch-passed the puck to the opposite post to Zachary Franko for the one-timer on a virtually wide-open net.
With less than five minutes to play, Acadia added another goal as Franko picked up a loose pick in front of the Bobcats bench and pushed it up-ice to Leier. Leier skated between the face-off circles and sent a pass to Cazzola who fired a shot from the face-off circle to the right of Jacob Meyers that beat the Bobcats’ goalie stick-side.
Axemen Head Coach Darren Burns was happy with the way his team played saying, “Our guys played with great composure. They (Quinnipiac) scored early, but our guys got better as the game went on. It was a real good character win.”
Acadia moves on to face Northeastern Huskies tomorrow in CIS/NCAA Exhibition play.
submitted in part by http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com
Axemen win big over Dalhousie in Exhibition play
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 2nd 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 11th on the road against the Dal Tigers at the Halifax Forum.
Axemen lose in shoot-out vs Moncton in preseason play
Submitted by Mitchell Racine, Acadia Sports Information Office
WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The only preseason game being played in Wolfville this year, fans were given a little taste of what’s to come in the 2014-2015 season. Tonight’s game was the second meeting in preseason between both teams. The Axemen captured a 4-2 in New Brunswick last week.
With a preseason record of 2-0-0, after defeating, Dalhousie, and Moncton earlier last week, this game comes just one week before the Axemen head across the border to face off against the NCAA #7 ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats and the NCAA #16 ranked Northeastern Huskies. Before heading south, the Axemen will visit Liverpoopl, NS to take on Dalhousie this Friday night for the second of two preseason meetings.
The Acadia Axemen open the regular season in 17 days, in Halifax, when they play the Dalhousie Tigers at 7:00pm on October 11.
Over 1000 fans were in attendance for tonight’s first preseason game at the Andrew H. McCain Arena. The game started off pretty slow, with both teams having fair chances at potting the first goal; however, it was Acadia’s third year forward Brett Thompson who opened the scoring.
Read more »
Axemen notch second hockey win of pre-season
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
Hockey Axemen edge Dalhousie 3-2 in Berwick
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.