Category: Team Stories

We’ve looked at the Axemen defence & and the goaltending so far in this five part series, and now it’s time to look at the third question. Question #3 going into this season, regarding this year’s Acadia Axemen team from AUS enthusiasts was whether or not the big line could repeat on their production of a year ago?

Last season, Mike Cazzola, Liam Heelis, and Brett Thompson were all but unstoppable, they put up big numbers and controlled games. Cazzola and Heelis tied at the top of AUS league scoring with 42 points each, with Heelis being awarded the top spot after scoring 24 goals in 26 games. Heelis was also named CIS Hockey’s most valuable player. Brett Thompson, the third member of the big line finished 8^th in AUS scoring with 33 points in 27 games. This scoring machine led the Axemen to a 21-7 regular season record and an AUS title, leading to a trip to the CIS University Cup.

Going into this season, the question was can they do it again? Well, let’s look at the AUS leaders after 16 games at the exam/holiday break. The big three sit 1, 2, and 4 in league scoring, with Heelis sitting 4^th with 20 points, Cazzola 2^nd with 23, and Brett Thompson with a league best 24 points, along with being tied for tops in the AUS with 12 goals; Thompson’s 12 goals tie his CIS career high from last year for goals in a season.Read more »

On Sunday, in our first of five questions answered by the Axemen in the first half of the AUS season, we looked at the question of defence. Today, we look at question number 2 on the minds of many AUS enthusiasts for the Acadia team heading into the 2014-15 season, goaltending.

Last season, Evan Mosher led the Axemen to the AUS championship and a birth in the CIS University Cup tournament. Along the way, Mosher was named a first team AUS all-star and a second team CIS all-star, and a nominee for the CIS top goaltender. Mosher graduated and moved on to the ECHL’s Quad City Mallards this season, leaving questions in goal for Acadia, how do you replace arguably the second best goalie in the country?

The Axemen recruited former QMJHL Gatineau Olympiques and Acadie-Bathurst Titan starting goalie, Robert Steeves, and went in to training camp relying heavily on second year goalie Brandon Glover. Glover was selected to the AUS all-rookie team last season after posting a 4-2 record in 7 games with a .882 save % and a 3.13 goals against average. Impressive numbers for a first year backup, but would he be able to fill the shoes left by the departure of Mosher?Read more »

The first half of the AUS season is over, actually more than half the games on the season have been played already, as this season due to the National tournament being hosted by the AUS conference, the teams played 16 of the 28 games prior to the Exam/Holiday break, instead of the standard 14. The Axemen finished those 16 games with a 12-3-1 record, tied for 2^nd, and one point out of the AUS top spot. Over the next ten days, we’ll look back at the Axemen first half of the season, and the top 5 questions AUS enthusiasts and fans had about this year’s Axemen team, and the outcome thus far in those 5 areas.

The first and arguably most important question was the team’s defense.

As the season began, they had only 1 regular defenseman from last year, Travis Gibbons, in the lineup. With Cullen Morin, Leo Jenner, Colin Archer, and Chris Owens graduating or moving on from last year’s team, and AUS all-rookie team member Geoff Schemitsch projected to be out for most of the first half with an injury. There were many questions about how the Axemen defense would fair, and rightfully so.

But the Axemen recruits Dan Poliziani, Stephen Woodworth, and Matt Pufahl have played exceptionally well in their first taste of AUS/CIS action. Still short on the backend, the Axemen moved two players who had played forward last year, in Tyler Ferry and Travis Randell, back to defense; Randell had seen action in 2012-13 as a defenceman for the Axemen. The two didn’t miss a beat on the blueline… at no time are we left thinking that they look like forwards playing defence, instead they looked like naturals on the blueline. 2^nd year defenceman Chris Buonomo also saw action in four games in the first half of the season.Read more »

Acadia Axemen fans, we need your help!

One of our biggest Axemen fans, Nick Vidito, has been in the hospital for the past few weeks dealing with horrible breathing issues and medical complications. He needs a venting machine to help him breathe and will be unable to leave the hospital without it. But here’s the catch: it costs $30,000.

Please read his story below, and we ask you to help a fellow Acadia hockey fan out and consider donating, and share this page so that others may consider donating as well.

Let’s bring help Nick home! Thank you.

http://www.gofundme.com/hj8sio

A Big Valley Welcome to Axemen Hockey Family Members

The Acadia Axemen have two important games this weekend as they face the CIS #7 ranked SMU Huskies and the 2015 CIS University Cup host St. FX X-Men. But there is another reason this coming weekend mark’s a very special weekend for the Acadia Axemen players. This is the Axemen family appreciation weekend, where our players’ family are invited to travel to Wolfville to spend time together & with the team, experience Acadia University, while enjoying two home games while they are in town.

This is the 6th annual weekend for the event, and it has been a great success in the past, and event organizer Sonia Richards believes this weekend will be no different; with 20 families travelling to Wolfville, from places as far as Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Coach Darren Burns had this to say about the event, “We are extremely excited about the impact and importance of our family weekend. It has become a staple of our program. It is important for us as a team, for our families to experience Acadia, together.”

It is a great event for the families of the 1st year players to get to know the town, the University, and the players surroundings; and for the veteran players, the families look forward to seeing other families they’ve met up with in years past to enjoy watching their sons, brothers, nephews, or cousins suit up for the Axemen.

If you see one of the Acadia Axemen players’ families in town this weekend, be sure to give them a great big Valley welcome! Let’s fill the rink again this weekend and show the Axemen players’ families our support for their Axemen!