Category: Team Stories

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – By John DeCoste – Prior to the fall of 2017, it was rare for the Acadia hockey Axemen to have a player whose father had played in the NHL. The list, including Fred Armstrong (son of long-time Toronto captain George Armstrong), an Axemen player in the early 1980s, has not been a long one.

It’s still a fairly rare occurrence, but for the record, this year’s Axemen roster includes not one, but two ‘second generation’ hockey players, whose dads were both long-time NHLers.

Second-year winger Jack McClelland is the son of Kevin McClelland, who played all of part of 14 seasons with five NHL teams.

The elder McClelland spent most of his career as a valuable role player with the Edmonton Oilers, and ended up part of four Stanley Cup champions as a teammate of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.

Jack McClelland, who was born in Oshawa, ON in 1996, the year after his father retired as a player, grew up in the U.S, largely in Wichita, Kansas where Kevin served as head coach of the CHL Wichita Thunder from 2010-2016.

“I was born in Oshawa, but I didn’t live there long,” says Jack, who moved around a lot as a youth as his father’s lengthy coaching career progressed.

He played most of his junior hockey with the Wichita Thunder Tier 1 Junior A team in the Western States Hockey League. His father was coaching the pro team in Wichita at the time, “so I was never coached by him.”

First-year Axemen defenseman T.J. Fergus is the son of Tom Fergus, who played all or part of 12 NHL seasons, including multiple years in Boston, Toronto and Vancouver.

While he never got his name on the Stanley Cup, Tom Fergus finished his career in 1995 with 235 goals and 581 points in 726 NHL games. He had 28 and 30-goals season with Boston, and scored a season-high 31 goals his first season with Toronto in 1985-1986.

T.J. Fergus, born in Oakville, ON in 1997 – two years after his dad retired as a player following two seasons playing in Switzerland – played his major junior hockey in the OHL, spending three seasons with the Erie Otters and splitting his age-20 season between Hamilton and Barrie.

During his time with Erie, he was a teammate of current NHL superstar Connor McDavid, who “was my captain” during the 2014-2015 season.Read more »

Axemen Coaches Burns & Richards excited for continued partnership

For the past 15 years, male & female hockey players of all ages and skill levels have had the opportunity to continue their hockey development by taking part in the leading spring hockey program which takes place at Acadia University Arena.  The long-time partnership between the University of Acadia and the Atlantic Hockey Group has benefited thousands of young hockey players.

Established in 2003, the Jr Axemen program was the vision of Darren Burns, Head Coach of the Acadia Axemen hockey program and Charlie Bourgeois, Director of the Atlantic Hockey Group.  The objective was to offer a local program for players and families lead by the many high-level coaches we have in the area. To provide an alternative to having families forced to travel to Halifax or other major centers to take part in spring hockey.  It was also very important to make available programs for players of all skill levels – for the Elite to recreational players.  Says Bourgeois “With the great success of the Jr Axemen program I believe it is fair to say that we have exceeded expectations.  The success of the program is due to the hard work of many great hockey people.”

Mark Richards, a long-time assistant coach with the Acadia Axemen (entering his 16th season) as well as minor hockey is the Director of the program.  Mark has also operated the very successful Acadia Selects program which takes part in the Elite spring hockey division.  Among his many responsibilities, Mark is responsible for bringing in the most qualified coaches to work with our players. Says Mark, “we are very fortunate to have a great hockey culture in the Valley area. Our teams are led by a group of very passionate, dedicated and knowledgeable coaches.  The ultimate goal is to find the balance of high-level training as well as providing our teams the opportunity to compete against teams at the appropriate level allowing us to challenge players of all levels.”Read more »

Plenty of reason for optimism

Normally when a U Sports hockey team brings in 12 new players, it’s called a rebuilding year… for the Acadia Axemen, 2018-19 is a year filled with optimism and high expectations. With an A+ recruiting year, the team feels they have every opportunity to make a march right back to the University Cup tournament this season, in Lethbridge, Alberta.

The players that graduated and moved on from the program were not only statistical leaders, but team leaders as well, and will be tough to replace. Gone from last year’s lineup is top scorers Boston Leier, Sam Fioretti, Remy Giftopoulos, Michael Clarke; along with the gritty play of Taylor Makin, Chance Braid, & Kris Hodge.

On the backend, all-stars Geoffrey Schemitsch & Matt Pufahl are gone, along with stalwart defenders Tyler Ferry & Stephen Woodworth. Starting goalie Robert Steeves also graduated from the program.

That’s a ton of scoring, heart, and experience gone. But cue the recruits.

Jackson Houck, who red shirted last year is now eligible to suit up and will be relied on to be an offensive threat every night for Acadia. Houck is a fourth-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers and won an ECHL championship before joining Acadia last year.

Winger Maurizia Colella had a knack for putting the puck in the net for the OHL’s Flint Firebirds and will be relied on to do the same in the AUS. Niagara Ice Dogs alum Johnny Corneil, a two way centreman will give the Axemen stability and offense down the middle with Kyle Farrell, Rodney Southam and Owen MacDonald.Read more »

Acadia looks to veteran leadership to guide the way

The Acadia Axemen named their captains for the upcoming 2018-19 season, naming 4th year defenceman Liam Maaskant Captain. The 6’4″ hard-nosed defender from Clinton, Ontario is no stranger to wearing the ‘C’ as he also was captain of his OHL Junior team the Kitchener Rangers.

Assistant captains for this year’s campaign will be 3rd year defender Alex Lepkowski and 4th year forward Kyle Farrell. Lepkowski hails from Buffalo, NY and in addition to his 2 years playing in USports, Alex has spent time in the ECHL and AHL, and served as an assistant captain for the Barrie Colts in the OHL.

Farrell, a native of Howie Centre, NS, enters his 4th season in the league and will be counted on, up front, to provide scoring punch, along with AUS top scorer Stephen Harper, again this season. Farrell averaged over a point a game last season and is a leader both on and off the ice for the team. Farrell also served as an assistant captain with his QMJHL junior team, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

Acadia Axemen head coach Darren Burns made the announcement following practice yesterday saying, “The coaching staff is extremely proud to announce Liam as our captain and Alex and Kyle as assistants for the upcoming season. To me it’s pretty simple when choosing your captains, you want to make sure they are people you would want your own kids, growing up, to emulate. These guys definitely fit this category. They are extremely well respected on campus, in the community, and in our dressing room. Being captains of the hockey team at Acadia brings with it responsibilities unique to other programs in the country. Our players are fortunate to be immersed in the community and our following is like no other. We are excited and confident that they will not only lead the team to great things throughout the season on the ice but off the ice as well.”

Catch the Axemen in their first pre-season game tonight at the Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville at 7pm as they face the Dalhousie Tigers.

Axemen alumnus returns to hockey program

The Acadia Axemen are proud to welcome back to Evan Mosher to our hockey program as the team’s goaltending coach. Evan is an Acadia University alumnus who starred with the Axemen from 2011-2014, including leading the team to an AUS title and birth in the University Cup in 2014. Mosher was named to the AUS first all-star team, and the CIS/U Sports second all-Canadian team in that season.

Acadia Head Coach Darren Burns welcomed Evan back saying, “We are very excited that Evan will be joining our staff. He will be a great addition to our program. He was an extremely well respected teammate and he is an excellent teacher, so the transition into coaching will be seamless for him. As a former player here at Acadia and great leader in our program, the fact that we are able to bring in an Axemen alumnus, who knows the culture and expectations of Acadia Hockey on campus and in the community, is a great bonus.”

The Newfoundland native went on to play in the ECHL with the Quad City Mallards, teaming up with a fellow Acadia alumnus Kevin Baker, and then moved overseas playing in France with Gap and then with Denmark last season where he joined another Acadia alumnus in Brett Thompson. Mosher will also serve as the goaltending coach for the Valley Wildcats Junior A team this season.

Axemen Associate Coach Kris MacDonald added, “Anytime you can bring back a former Axemen like Evan it’s huge for the program and the Valley. He will be a huge asset for our goalies and will play a big role in our success. We are also very happy to announce that Evan, along with our Axemen goalies will be leading all the goalie development sessions for the Acadia Minor Hockey Association this season. Our program continues to take a lot of pride in its involvement in the development of youth hockey in the Valley. Evan’s expertise, dedication and commitment will be a huge asset for goalies in the Acadia minor hockey association and the surrounding communities.”

Welcome back to #AcadiaU and the Axemen hockey program Evan!