Team Stories

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.

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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.

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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.

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Coach Burns prepped for stretch run

Welcome to 2017! We’re looking forward to a terrific 2^nd half of the AUS Men’s Hockey season. The Axemen resume regular season AUS play on Friday night as they take on the Saint Mary’s Huskies in Halifax, and then host the U de M Aigles Bleus on Saturday night in Wolfville.

But before we look ahead, we need to reflect on the first half, where the Axemen finished in 2^nd place, in the always competitive AUS conference, with an 11-6-1 record in 18 games.

Acadia hit the ice this season with some major changes in their lineup from the 2015-16 season; gone was perennial scoring leader Mike Cazzola, high scoring threat Zach Franko, & key two way players Dylan Anderson and Travis Randell.

The Axemen had a strong recruiting off-season, adding major size to their lineup with 6’6 defenseman Marc McNulty and 6’4 Alex Lepkowski. Up front 6’5 Nick Betz arrived in Wolfville following a camp invite to the New York Rangers camp, along with 6’3 Stephen Harper who attended the Ottawa Senators main camp. Also added to the lineup were former captain of the STU Tommies Brendan Childerley, Kris Hodge, and Chris Clark.

One of the major recruits was netminder Devin Williams, who starred with the Erie Otters of the OHL with a 41-10-1 record and a 2.36 GAA in 2015-16.

The Axemen struggled out of the gate going 5-5 in their first 10 games, before going 6-2 in their final 8. The early struggles were a team trying to gel, while being hampered by injuries. The biggest struggle of the first half came on the power play where for the first dozen games, the team could not find a way to score with the man advantage. The jinx seems to have been broken and now have edged the pp % to 12.5% after 18 games.

Acadia ended the first half with a 7-1 record on home ice at the Andrew H. McCain Arena, but struggled with a 4-6 record on the road.

Axemen head coach Darren Burns reflected on the first half saying, “I was happy with our recovery from a slow start in the first half. However, the first half is a thing of the past. The reality of our league, especially with only 12 games in the second half, is the teams that kept in shape and are focused, will be successful. Playoffs will begin before you know it and you don’t have as much time to create and maintain structure and work habits.”

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Set to faceoff against Team Canada Jr hopefuls

TORONTO (U Sports) –U Sports unveiled Monday its roster for a two-game exhibition series between the U Sports men’s hockey all-stars and Canada’s National Junior Team prospects. Acadia’s Geoff Schemitsch will join the U Sports all-star squad. Last season, Axeman Matthew Pufahl was named to the team.

The two-game set, which was announced last month, will take place at the Centre d’Excellence Sports Rousseau, home of the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, on Monday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. ET and Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. ET as part of the National Junior Team’s preparation for the 41st IIHF World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal (Dec. 26 – Jan. 5).

The 23-player U Sports lineup – all but one with CHL experience – is comprised of 11 standouts from the OUA conference and six apiece from the AUS and Canada West leagues. Twelve of the 23 players have represented U Sports against the World Junior hopefuls in the past, including 11 returnees from last year’s inaugural national all-star squad which split the two-game series, winning the first game 5-4 in a shootout. The OUA contingent will look to make their case for a spot on the 2017 Winter Universiade roster, with head coach Brett Gibson also serving as the FISU Games bench boss.

“It is a fantastic opportunity for these 23 U Sports athletes from across the country to showcase how great of a product we have,” said Gibson. “It also comes with a great responsibility to be a small part of the preparation for our Canadian under-20 team in their quest for a gold medal.”
Protecting the U Sports net in Boisbriand will be goaltenders Kevin Bailie from Queen’s, Corbin Boes from Dalhousie and Jordon Cooke from Saskatchewan, who all suited up in last year’s event.

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