Category: Team Stories

Steeves, ice Axemen cap successful season with USports bronze medal

By John DeCoste ’77

(WOLFVILLE, N.S. ) – For goalie Robert Steeves, the 2016-2017 university hockey season was the most satisfying – not to mention the most successful – of his three years at Acadia, culminating in a national bronze medal.

The Axemen were 2-1 at the USports University Cup in Fredericton, defeating Alberta 4-1, and after a 3-0 semifinal loss to eventual-champion UNB, claiming the bronze medal with a convincing 7-3 victory over St. F.X., a team Acadia had previously beaten just once all season.

“It felt really good, winning the bronze medal,” Steeves said in an interview March 30. “We were able to beat X when it counted.” He joked, “maybe we were saving ourselves for that game.”

Steeves, 24, who is in his third year of a business degree at Acadia, was born and grew up in Moncton, though his parents currently live about an hour north in Bouctouche, N.B.

After one year of Junior A in Dieppe, he played major junior for four seasons in the QMJHL, two with Acadie-Bathurst and two with Gatineau, before being recruited to Acadia in 2014.

“I knew I wanted to come back to the Maritimes for university, and I had talked to a few schools,” he says. “I didn’t know much about Acadia, but my dad is an Acadia grad. He was a big influence on my decision to come here.”

In his first year at Acadia, Steeves got into just four games. He “got off to a rocky start my first game,” and was replaced by Brandon Glover who ended up “having a great year that year,” helping lead the Axemen to a berth in the University Cup.

“It was a bit of a learning experience for me,” Steeves says of his rookie year. “I had been a starter for my last three years in junior,” and watching the action from the bench was an adjustment.Read more »

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Schemitsch named All-Canadian

FREDERICTON (U SPORTS) – Philippe Maillet, a fourth-year forward from the UNB Varsity Reds, was named the U SPORTS Player of the Year in men’s hockey, Wednesday night. Acadia’s Geoff Schemitsch was honoured as a second team All-Canadian. Schemitsch was named a first team AUS All-Star and the AUS Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year.

CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: http:www.universitycup.ca 

Maillet, a Business Administration student from Terrebonne, Québec, becomes the first UNB player to be named Player of the Year since Hunter Tremblay in the 2009-2010 season, and the fourth in the program’s history.

Other U SPORTS award winners announced during the All-Canadian Gala were UNB’s Jordan Murray, Defenceman of the Year; Saskatchewan’s Jordon Cooke, Goaltender of the Year; Concordia forward Anthony De Luca, Clare Drake Award (Rookie of the Year); Calgary forward Elgin Pearce, R.W. Pugh Award (Most Sportsmanlike Player); Saskatchewan’s Dave Adolph, Father George Kehoe Memorial Award (Coach of the Year); and Ryerson forward Aaron Armstrong, Dr. Randy Gregg Award (Student-Athlete Community Service).

The 2017 U SPORTS Cavendish Farms University Cup, hosted by UNB, gets underway Thursday, March 16th at the Aitken University Centre. The action closes on Sunday, March 12 with the gold medal final, live on Sportsnet 360 (1 p.m. AT). Saturday’s semifinals are also live on Sportsnet 360 (12 p.m. AT & 4 p.m. AT), while the quarter-finals and the bronze medal match are set to air on USPORTS.LIVE.

SENATOR JOSEPH A. SULLIVAN TROPHY (Player of the Year): Philippe Maillet, UNB

A fourth-year forward from Terrebonne, Que., Maillet led the nation in points with 55 on the season. His 32 assists and 23 goals were the second and third-most, respectively, notched by any U SPORTS player.

He led the country in power play goals with 14 and his plus-minus rating of plus-34 was the best in U SPORTS.

Maillet is a two-time MVP of Atlantic University Sport (2014-15 and 2016-17). In 2013-14, he was named AUS Rookie of the Year.

He’s been an AUS First Team All-Star three consecutive seasons, and was a First Team U SPORTS All-Star in 2014-15. In 2013-14, Maillet was a member of the AUS All-Rookie Team and an AUS Second Team All-Star.Read more »

Game 1 goes Monday in Wolfville

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Axemen hockey team will have a second chance to get to the U SPORTS National Championship hosted by UNB. They may not be vying for the AUS championship, but the National Championships will have two AUS teams along with host UNB. UNB will be taking on StFX in the best of three AUS champoinship, while the Axemen will take on Saint Mary’s beginning Monday, March 6. Both losers of the AUS semi-finals will play a best of three series to become the last entrant into the U SPORTS championship in Fredericton, N.B. March 16-19.

Consolation Series (Best 2-of-3): Saint Mary’s (4) vs. Acadia (2)

Game 1: Monday, Mar. 6 – Saint Mary’s at Acadia, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Wednesday, Mar. 8 – Acadia at Saint Mary’s, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Friday, Mar. 10 – Saint Mary’s at Acadia, 7 p.m.*
(*if necessary)

All games of the AUS championship finals will be broadcast live on Fibe TV (TV1—channels 1 and 401) and webcast at www.AUStv.ca. All games of the consolation final series will be webcast on AUStv.

The 2017 Cavendish Farms U Cup national championship is being hosted by the University of New Brunswick March 16-19 in Fredericton. The Atlantic conference receives three berths in the national championship.

Schemitsch, Pufahl & Harper honored

(HALIFAX, N.S.) – Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2016-17 AUS men’s hockey major award winners and all-stars as selected by the conference’s seven head coaches following regular season play.

Fourth-year UNB forward Philippe Maillet has been named the Atlantic University Sport most valuable player.

Other AUS major award winners announced today were Saint Mary’s Hunter Garlent of Thorold, Ont., who was named rookie of the year; Acadia’s Geoff Schemitch of Thornhill, Ont., who was selected as the most sportsmanlike player; StFX’s Eric Locke of Toronto, Ont., who earned the Godfrey award for student-athlete community service; and UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall who was named the AUS coach of the year for the fifth time in his career.Read more »

StFX X-Men vs Acadia Axemen

The Acadia Axemen and StFX X-Men square off in a best of 5, AUS men’s hockey semi-final series starting in Wolfville on Thursday night at 7pm at the Andrew H. McCain Arena. Tickets are now available for the opening two games of the series, with game 2 taking place Friday night, also on Axemen home turf. This is going to be a tightly contested series, with the two teams matching up closely, both sides with four deep lines, punishing defenders, and both teams having two goalies who are more than capable of stealing the series for their respective teams given the chance.

Here’s how the teams matched up in the regular season:

The Acadia Axemen finished 2^nd in the AUS with a 20-8-2 record for 42pts. They finished the season out strong, winners of their last 5 games. Acadia was particularly strong on home ice going 12-3, on the season.

StFX, meanwhile, compiled a 16-12-2 record; their 34pts were good for 3^rd place in the AUS, and they are coming off a strong quarterfinal playoff series which saw them defeat U de M Aigles Bleus in 2 straight in the best of 3 quarterfinals.

The Axemen are capable of scoring plenty of goals, with 111 on the season, 12 more than the X-Men’s 99. The Axemen also had the edge in keeping the puck out, allowing just 86 goals against vs X’s 102. That’s a goal differential of +25 for Acadia to StFX’s negative (-3).

Despite the goal differential, StFX had Acadia’s number this season, winning the season series 4 games to 1. However, the Axemen may have made their statement on the final game of the season, where they knocked off the X-Men 8-5, getting the monkey off their back against the Antigonish team.

Puck Stoppers

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Semifinal Series #2 (Best 3-of-5): Acadia (2) vs. StFX (3)

Game 1: Thursday, Feb. 23 – StFX at Acadia, 7 p.m.

Game 2: Friday, Feb. 24 – StFX at Acadia, 7 p.m.

Game 3: Monday, Feb. 27 – Acadia at StFX, 7 p.m.

Game 4: Tuesday, Feb. 28 – Acadia at StFX, 7 p.m.*

Game 5: Thursday, Mar. 2 – StFX at Acadia, 7 p.m.*

(*if necessary)

Get your tickets today for exciting Acadia Axemen men’s hockey playoff action at the Andrew H. McCain Arena box office, or purchase online by clicking here!

Axemen forward to represent Team Sweden

WOLFVILLE, N.S. By Cameron Davidson – A 3^rd year forward for Axemen Hockey, the 6’1, 180 lbs. Daniel Pettersson of Etobicoke, Ont. has been given the opportunity that every young hockey player growing up in Canada dreams of; to be able to represent your country on the international stage. What’s unique about Pettersson’s opportunity though, is that rather than wearing the maple leaf, he’ll be using his dual-citizenship to represent Sweden at the International University Sports Federation (FISU) Winter Universiade, to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from January 28 to February 8 of this year.

The event will host competition in 12 different winter sports over the course of 12 days, and will play host to athletes sent from approximately 64 different nations university sport federations.

Born in Canada but a dual-citizen from birth, as his father is Canadian and mother is Swedish, Pettersson’s experience playing overseas is what sparked the opportunity to play for Sweden in the Universiade.

Before arriving at Acadia, Pettersson spent several seasons playing professionally in Sweden, which qualified him to compete for the Swedes in the Universiade. The opportunity to play nationally for Sweden was not something Pettersson had really considered, until he was reached out to with the chance to play at the Universiade. “After a little research and information, I knew it would be an amazing opportunity,” Pettersson said.Read more »