McCollum with 19 saves in loss

HALIFAX, NS – Saint Mary’s goaltender Jeremy Helvig stopped 32 shots for his first career AUS playoff shutout, as the Huskies defeated the Acadia Axemen 2-0 in game two of their best-of-five semifinal series on Friday night at the Dauphinee Centre. 

“It’s huge for us,” said Helvig post-game. “It wasn’t our best game but we played solid defensively in front of me and made my night… not too hard I’ll say.” 

The Axemen looked motivated to bounce back from Thursday night’s 7-1 loss in game one, as they were buzzing from the opening puck drop. Axemen forward Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, SK) generated several scoring opportunities for his team, and the Huskies were able to kill of an early Axemen powerplay. Saint Mary’s best scoring chance in the opening period came on a shot by Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) and a follow up rebound by Joel Bishop (St. John’s, NL), but Axemen goaltender Conor McCollum (Pickering, ON) was able to deny the chance. 

Late in the first period, Acadia had their best scoring opportunity, with a rebound landing directly on the stick of forward Keegan Stevenson (Aweres Township, ON), but Huskies goaltender Jeremy Helvig slid across his crease to make a great pad save and keep the game scoreless. 

Neither team was able to open the scoring in the first 20 minutes, with the Axemen outshooting the Huskies 12-5 in the period. 

The Huskies began the second period on the powerplay, but were unable to generate a quality scoring chance. When the game returned to even strength, the Axemen peppered the Huskies goal with shots, but Helvig was able to turn them all away.  

The two teams continued to battle for a go-ahead goal until there was just under eight minutes remaining in the period, when the Huskies opened their account. Defenceman Dennis Busby (Oro-Medonte, ON) took a pass from teammate Jaxon Bellamy and did the rest, skating around an Axemen defender and sniping a shot through McCollum’s five-hole to put the home team up 1-0. 

Both teams were credited with eight shots in the second period, and the Huskies took a 1-0 lead into the second intermission. 

The Axemen continued to pressure in the third period, and thought they found their equalizer on the powerplay, when forward Zack Jones (North Falmouth, MA) appeared to have banged the puck past Helvig, but the Huskies goaltender revealed the puck was underneath him, and the officials waved it off.  

“He had the open net so I just threw my body on the puck and it fell into my glove. I guess they thought it went in but it was in my glove the whole time,” said Helvig. 

Acadia fired 12 shots on goal in the third period, but Helvig stopped them all, and Huskies defenceman Justin MacPherson iced the game with a long empty-net goal with just 16 seconds remaining, his second of the series securing the Saint Mary’s 2-0 victory. 

The Axemen outshot the Huskies 32-21 on the night, with goaltender Jeremy Helvig turning away all 32 shots and being named Subway Player of the Game. Conor McCollum stopped 19 shots for the Axemen. 

“It’s huge to get the two wins at home,” said Helvig. “Just have to finish the job on Monday and beat Acadia.” 

Game three of the semifinal series will take place Monday night at the Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville, NS, with puck-drop scheduled for 7 p.m. 

Recap by Allan April / Saint Mary’s Huskies Athletics
Photos by Mona Ghiz / Saint Mary’s Huskies Athletics 

Stevenson with the lone Axemen goal

HALIFAX, NS – Saint Mary’s forward Andrew Coxhead scored two powerplay goals and added an assist, as the Huskies routed the Acadia Axemen 7-1 in game one of their best-of-three semifinal series on Thursday night at the Dauphinee Centre. 

The Huskies opened the scoring midway through the first period, as a powerplay expired, forward David Bérubé (Price, QC) cut in and played a tape-to-tape pass to Dawson Theede (Brooklin, ON) who tapped it past Axemen goaltender Conor McCollum (Pickering, ON) to put the home team up 1-0. It was the first goal of the season for Theede, who was playing in his first game since Nov. 12 after recovering from an injury.  

Saint Mary’s outshot Acadia 9-7 in the first period, and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. 

Things opened up in the second period, and the Huskies took advantage. Just under eight minutes into the period, Huskies defenceman Justin MacPherson (East Gwillimbury, ON) fired a point shot that was directed into goal by Huskies forward Nathan Dunkley (Campbellford, ON), doubling the Huskies lead to 2-0. 

After killing off a pair of Axemen penalties, thanks to some great saves by goaltender Jeremy Helvig, the Huskies got going on a man advantage of their own with just over six minutes remaining in the period. 

Forward Keith Getson (Bridgewater, NS) attempted to set up forward Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) in the slot, but the puck was deflected on to the stick of defenceman Jaxon Bellamy (Hampton, NB), who played a nice pass over to Coxhead in front, and he directed it past McCollum for the first of four powerplay goals on the night for the Huskies. 

“That was big for us, getting the confidence up on the powerplay”, said Coxhead post-game. “We hadn’t played in a while, but we’ve been practicing it quite a bit, and it’s always nice to score on the powerplay.” 

The Huskies would add another goal just over two minutes later, with Coxhead feeding Joel Bishop (St. John’s, NL), who delivered a backhand pass to a cutting Ralph, who calmly directed it into goal to extend the home team lead to 4-0. 

Just over a minute later, the Huskies were on another powerplay when MacPherson and Getson pulled off a textbook give-and-go, with MacPherson finishing it up for the fourth and final goal of the second period, putting the Huskies up 5-0. 

“That was great for us,” said MacPherson post-game. “We’ve had a couple weeks off here with the bye, so it was just important to find our legs early. We had a bit of a slow start but found our way in the second period and kind of just continued that into the third.” 

The Huskies outshot the Axemen 19-17 in the second period, and took a 5-0 lead into the intermission. The Axemen would change goaltenders heading into the third period, with Zachary Paputsakis (Rockland, ON) replacing McCollum.  

The third period saw the physicality increase, as Axemen forward Peyton Hoyt (Fredericton, NB) was given a match penalty for kneeing Huskies forward Liam Van Loon (London, ON), who was forced to leave the game and didn’t return.  

An agitated Huskies team made the Axemen pay on the ensuing powerplay, scoring twice in 32 seconds. 

First it was Coxhead’s second powerplay goal of the night, as he received a pass from Ralph and fired a shot past Paputsakis to extend the lead to 6-0. 

Just 32 seconds later, the Huskies would score their fourth and final powerplay tally of the night, as forward Charlie Dafonseca (Thornhill, ON) sneaked a shot through Paputsakis’ five-hole, extending the lead to 7-0. 

The Axemen would get one back in the final minutes, as forward Keegan Stevenson (Aweres Township, ON) scored off a rebound to cut the lead to 7-1, which would go down as the final score. 

The Huskies outshot the Axemen 39-35 on the night, with goaltender Jeremy Helvig turning away 34 shots for the win. In the Acadia goal, McCollum stopped 23 of 28 shots faced, while Paputsakis denied nine of 11 shots in relief. 

Coxhead was named Subway Player of the Game for the Huskies with two goals and one assist. Cedric Ralph (one goal, two assists), Justin MacPherson (one goal, one assist), Nathan Dunkley (one goal, one assist), Keith Getson (two assists) and David Bérubé (two assists) all recorded multipoint nights for the Huskies. 

Keegan Stevenson was named Subway Player of the Game for Acadia. 

Game two of the semifinal series will take place Friday night at the Dauphinee Centre, with puck-drop scheduled for 7 p.m. 

“I assume it’s going to be a different game tomorrow,” added Coxhead. “They’re going to want to come out hard after tonight so we’ve got to match that and play our game.” 

Recap by Allan April / Saint Mary’s Huskies Athletics
Photos by Mona Ghiz / Saint Mary’s Huskies Athletics 

McCollum with 28 saves for the win

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Look out AUS semi-finals, here come the Acadia Axemen. The Axemen swept STFX in the best-of-three quarter-finals on Friday night with a 4-1 win. 

It was an upset victory, as Acadia finished beneath STFX in the regular season standings.  

Subway First Star of the Night Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) put in an outstanding effort for Acadia, turning aside 28 of 29 shots on the night.  

Penalty-killing was huge for Acadia, as STFX went 1-for-8 on the man advantage for the night.  

Acadia got off to a strong start in the opening frame with a pair of goals.  

Corson Hopwo (Duncan, B.C.) struck first for Acadia with a beautiful solo effort at the 6:19 mark of the period. He took the puck from Liam Kidney (Enfield, N.S.) after he broke into the offensive zone.  

After taking the puck from Kidney, Hopwo curled at the top of the right face-off circle and made a line for the net. 

Hopwo cut in for the STFX net and slid a backhand past the goalie to make it 1-0.  

Keegan Stevenson (Aweres Township, Ont.) doubled the lead for Acadia at the 11:21 mark of the first on a play similar to Hopwo.  

Stevenson took the puck from Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, Sask.) and drove the net before faking a shot on the backhand and turning his stick over to lift a shot on his forehand past the sliding goalie.  

STFX had two power-play opportunities in the first after going down 2-0, but failed to capitalize on either of them.  

At the end of the period, the shots were 10-7 for Acadia.  

The teams traded goals in a chippy second period.  

STFX used another power-play opportunity to make it 2-1 late in the second period.  

The second star of the night Adam Holwell (St. John’s, Nfld.) scored his power-play marker with 5:17 left to play in the frame and it looked like the spark needed to get STFX back in the game.  

However, captain Jack Flaman (Vibank, Sask.) stepped up for Acadia and responded with a goal shortly after taking the penalty that granted STFX the power play that got them on the scoreboard.  

Flaman scored on a tight wraparound goal with 3:43 left in the period to make it 3-1.  

A large scrum broke out at the end of the second, as STFX players tried to dig the puck out from under an injured Peyton Hoy t(Fredericton, N.B.) in the dying seconds of the period.  

Heading into the final frame, Acadia held a 21-16 lead in shots.  

STFX had multiple 5-on-3 power-plays in the first half of the final frame, but they were unable to capitalize on these opportunities.  

They threw everything they had at Acadia’s Conor McCollum, but STFX could not score in the third.  

The third star of the night Liam Kidney added an empty-net goal with 24 seconds left in the game to seal the victory for Acadia and send his team to the semi-finals.  

STFX goalie Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, Ont.) turned aside 30 of 33 shots on the night.  

Acadia will return to play in the AUS semi-finals once the outcome of the second quarterfinal series between Moncton and UPEI is determined. Game two of that series was postponed tonight due to inclement weather. Moncton leads the series 1-0. If Moncton wins their QF series, Moncton will take on UNB and Acadia will play against Saint Mary’s. If Moncton loses the series, the Axemen will play UNB in a best-of-five semifinal series.  

Acadia with goals from 5 different players in win

Antigonish, NS – The Acadia Axemen are in the driver’s seat after a come from behind win over the STFX X-Men on Wednesday night at the Charles V Keating Centre. The win gives the Axemen a 1-0 lead in their best of three AUS quarterfinal series.  

  

Acadia’s Subway player of the game was Liam Kidney (Enfield, NS) who scored the game winner and added an assist, while STFX’s Subway player of the game was Matthew Phillip (Ilderton, ON) who played a strong game and added a goal.  

  

It was a tight game early on, and a pair of minor penalties in the first five minutes had the X-Men shorthanded but Acadia wasn’t able to make them pay. STFX came close to opening the scoring while on the penalty kill but Axemen netminder Connor McCollum (Pickering, ON) kept the door shut.  

  

STFX did break the deadlock at 8:50, with Logan Chisholm (Antigonish, NS) firing home a backhand off a pass from Declan Smith (Antigonish, NS). 

  

As anticipated, there was some rough stuff shortly after the goal, with neither of the heated rivals looking to give an inch and perhaps remembering the previous game between them last weekend, which saw 104 penalty minutes dished out on 22 penalties.  

 

The Axemen later had some penalty killing to do of their own, but Chisholm’s goal remained the only one of the period. Shots at the end of the first 20 minutes were seven apiece.  

  

STFX came out fast in the second period, and the blue and white had the lion’s share of possession and scoring chances early on but it was Acadia who tied the game. Axemen captain Jack Flaman (Vibank, SK) found the back of the net off an odd-man rush, with Kidney and Luke Zazula (Langley, BC) getting the helpers.  

  

Phillip put his team up at 11:01 with a second chance goal, with assists going to Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) and Matthew Struthers (Milton, ON), but a 3-on-1 just over 30 seconds later saw Acadia’s Brendan Sellan (Hanover, ON) knot the game at 2-2. 

  

X-Men forward Zack Trott (Mulmur, ON) gave the home team the lead again, going five-hole with just under four minutes remaining the period. 

 

Shots at the end of the second were 18-12 in favour of STFX as the home took a 3-2 lead into the dressing room second intermission. 

 

Acadia drew even with just over four minutes gone in the third period, with Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, SK) burying one after finding himself open in front of the STFX net off a pass from Peyton Hoyt (Lincoln, NB). The visitors then claimed the lead 40 seconds later, with Kidney notching his first goal of the playoffs. 

  

STFX pushed hard to tie the game and went on the powerplay with about five minutes left to play but weren’t able to close the gap. The X-Men pulled their goalie late but it was Acadia’s Hoyt closing out the scoring with an empty netter with 29 seconds left on the clock. 

  

McCollum had 23 saves in the win for Acadia, while STFX’s Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) made 13 stops in the losing effort.  

  

Game two of the series now shifts to Wolfville, NS on Friday night, Feb 17th. An Acadia victory will send them into the AUS semifinal round, while a STFX win will force a deciding Game three, back at the Charles V Keating Centre, on Sunday evening.  

 

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Recap courtesy Matt Draper, STFX Athletics