Celebrity dinner a hit with local residents

Published on July 1, 2011

Lyle Carter

http://www.trurodaily.com

Local residents who attended Thursday’s annual Acadia Axemen Celebrity Hockey Dinner in Wolfville didn’t come away disappointed.

Athletic Director Kevin Dickie summarizes the fall of 2011 season

story courtesy of acadiau.ca 06/12/2011 2:21 pm

Submitted by Fred SgambatiWOLFVILLE, NS – The first half of Acadia University’s 2011-12 Athletics program wrapped up Friday, Dec. 2 at Acadia Arena when the varsity hockey Axemen hosted the St. Mary’s Huskies at 7 p.m. But a quick look at the fall term suggests there has been plenty to celebrate already.

Four of Acadia’s 10 varsity teams were ranked in the CIS top 10 during the fall term: football; rugby; hockey; and women’s basketball. That’s 40 per cent and pretty solid, according to Director of Athletics Kevin Dickie.Read more »

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Advertiser/Register

Although the 2010/ 2011 season had a less than satisfactory ending for the Acadia hockey Axemen, head coach Darren Burns has “lots of positives.”

After a fourth-place finish in the regular season, the Axemen swept UPEI in the first round of the playoffs, then lost their semifinal series to UNB three games to one, including a loss in quadruple overtime.

“We felt we had a legitimate shot at making it to nationals. We fell short of that, and that’s disappointing,” Burns says.

Hockey Axemen head coach Darren Burns: “Am I happy? Not totally. Am I proud of the guys for what they were able to accomplish? Absolutely.” File

“There are things you can control, and lots of things you can’t. I felt a lot of the things we could control, we did.”

The Axemen “had an up-and-down first half due to having so many new faces,” but “got on a good run” in the second half until “we ran into some injury problems that didn’t help.”

Other than the second period in game one against UNB, “I felt our six playoff games were our six best games of the year.”Read more »

WOLFVILLE, NS – The Acadia University Axemen hockey team completed last season with not only a second place Atlantic University Hockey Conference finish but also academically out-performed their hockey conference opponents for the second year in a row, adding 10 CIS Academic All-Canadians to Acadia’s overall 74 Academic All-Canadians for 2009-10.

Ranked fourth in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Top Ten at #4 for ten consecutive weeks this past season, the Axemen had 10 Academic All-Canadians on a 25 man roster. In 2008-2009, the Acadia hockey squad claimed an all-time high of 14 Academic All-Canadians on a 25 man roster.Read more »

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Advertiser/Register

The  Acadia hockey Axemen finished a strong second in the 2009-10 AUHC regular season, but suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss to Saint Mary’s in the playoff semifinals. Head coach Darren Burns says the fact that the Huskies went on to capture its first-ever CIS title is scant consolation.

Burns used the off-season to search out players to both fill the holes on his roster left by graduating players and address some of his team’s main on-ice concerns – most notably a lack of scoring from the defense.Read more »

Acadia hockey dinner continues to pack ’em in

Published on July 2nd, 2010

BY JOHN DECOSTE 

Kings County Advertiser/Register

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/

MIRAMICHI – Miramichi Timberwolves star defenceman Chris Owens will play with the Acadia Axemen in the Atlantic University Sport hockey conference next fall.

Owens, a 20-year-old from St. John’s, played four seasons with the Timberwolves in the Maritime Junior A Hockey League. He led the league in scoring with 92 points, including 23 goals, in 49 games last season. He was named the league’s player of the year and top defenceman.

Owens, who finished with 258 points in 213 MJAHL regular-season games, is Miramichi’s all-time career scoring leader. He also holds the league record for most career points scored by a defenceman.

Owens was sought after by several teams, including the St. Thomas Tommies, University of Prince Edward Island Panthers, St. Francis Xavier X-Men and Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. After some consideration, Owens said Acadia seemed like the best choice.

“I visited the school there and I just really liked the environment, the school, the surroundings and stuff. And I met all the guys (on the hockey team) and they all seem great, and I like the coach (Darren Burns),” said Owens, who was the Timberwolves’ captain last season.

“It was a hard choice” picking which school, he said. “A lot of schools seemed great and they all seemed to have good programs, but I liked this one the best.”

Owens never won a Kent Cup MJAHL championship in his time in Miramichi, but hopes to bring an AUS championship to Acadia. The Axemen finished in second place with a 19-6-3 regular-season record last season, but fell to the eventual Canadian champion Saint Mary’s Huskies in a conference semifinal.

Owens said he still hopes to play professional hockey in the future, but intends to focus on academics for now and earn a degree. He’ll study business at the Wolfville, N.S. school.

“Business is really just what interested me the most. Maybe someday I’d like to have my own business or work in marketing,” he said. “I’m just getting started, I guess, so I’m not really too sure yet. But that seems like a good starting point.”

Owens extended his thanks to Miramichi for helping him build as a hockey player. He made note of T-Wolves head coach and general manager Bill McGuigan, who Owens said helped turn him “into a better player and a person.”