McCollum makes 26 saves in Axemen loss

By Thomas Becker of UPEI Athletics

The Panthers recorded their fourth straight win Saturday night after shutting out the Acadia Axemen 3-0. 

Darian Pilon, Ryan Stepien and TJ Shea each found the back of the net in the win, while goaltender Jonah Capriotti turned aside 21 shots for his first shutout of the season. 

“The boys are really confident right now. We’re working together and we believe in each other,” Pilon said. 

After a slow start to the game that was highlighted by the strength of each team’s defence, the Panthers (5-3-0) finally broke the deadlock at 11:42 of the second period. On the play, Acadia (2-4-1) tried to clear the puck from their zone, but Pilon nabbed the puck from the air and placed a beautiful backhand shot by goaltender Conor McCollum for the power play goal. 

Defense and goaltending continued to shine throughout the second period and most of the third before UPEI delivered the final blow. After taking a big check with four minutes left to play, Stepien stayed in the play and got the puck back along the side of the net, where he roofed a shot over the goalie’s shoulder to make it 2-0. 

As McCollum tried to skate to the bench for the six-on-five opportunity, the Axemen turned the puck over in the neutral zone, where Shea gathered it and skipped a shot in the open cage for the 3-0 win. 

“Our team has been in tune with being prepared and ready to go for each game,” Pilon said. “When we’re playing our game, no one can really play with us.” 

The Panthers’ next test comes Friday night when they take on the visiting UNB Reds, while the Axemen return home where they’ll welcome the Dalhousie Tigers. 

McMaster & Kidney with the Acadia goals

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Make it three straight losses for the Acadia Axemen (2-3-1), as the USPORTS No. 6 ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies pulled off a 3-2 OT win on Wednesday night. 

Acadia held a lead late in the third, but Saint Mary’s tied the game on a late power-play goal and then won it in OT on a goal from Subway First Star of the Night Bradey Johnson (Lindsay, Ont.). 

Johnson came in on an odd-man rush and slipped a wrist shot past Acadia’s goalie Zachary Paputsakis (Rockland, Ont.) to send the Acadia crowd home in disappointment. 

There was a kerfuffle in front of the Saint Mary’s net near the beginning of the period that set the tone for a rough first period. 

Neither team was able to open the scoring in the first period. 

Saint Mary’s had the best chance of the period when Jake Durham (Port Perry, Ont.) missed a wide-open net on a cross-crease pass in the final minutes of the first. 

Acadia came close to putting one on the board in the final minute of the first when Keegan Stevenson (Aweres Township, Ont.) got a partial break and lifted a backhand shot at the net. 

At the end of the first period, Saint Mary’s held a 12-7 lead in shots. 

Saint Mary’s put one past Paputsakis with 4:44 left in the frame on a point shot from Jaxon Bellamy (Hampton, N.B). 

Adam McMaster (Beamsville, N.S.) wired a shot on a pass from Nick Deakin-Poot (Georgetown, Ont.) to tie the game, which is where the score stood heading into the final frame. 

At the end of the second, the shots were 21-18 for Acadia. 

Acadia took their first lead of the game in the final period on a goal from the team’s leading scorer, Liam Kidney (Enfield, N.S.). 

Kidney picked up a rebound in front of the net and slid it past the goalie to make it 2-1. 

A late penalty in the final minutes of the third by Acadia gave Andrew Coxhead (Bedford, N.S.) the opportunity to wire a top-shelf wrist shot into the top right corner to tie the game. 

Acadia goalie and second star of the night Zachary Paputsakis turned aside 28 of 31 shots on the night in a stellar performance. Saint Mary’s goalie and third star of the night Matt Welsh (Halifax, N.S.) stopped 28 of 30 shots. 

The Acadia Axemen return to the ice on Saturday, Oct. 29 against the UPEI Panthers before returning for a home game on Friday, Nov. 4 against the Dalhousie Tigers.  The Huskies host the UPEI Panthers on this Friday night. The puck drops at 7:00 pm on both nights. 

Deakin-Poot, Zazula, & Hoyt with Acadia’s goals

Wolfville, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen came up short in a 5-3 loss to the UPEI Panthers, making it two losses in a row for Acadia. 

A three-goal first period from UPEI was the difference maker in the game. Acadia attempted a comeback, getting within one in the second, but they could not find a way to tie the game. 

UPEI stormed out with an offensive onslaught in the first period, taking a 3-0 lead into the second period. 

Drake Pilon (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) opened the scoring on a beautiful cross-ice pass in front of the net from Darian Pilon (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.). 

Pilon’s goal was a wrister that found the top right corner of the net. 

Carson MacKinnon (Summerside, P.E.I.) doubled up the score at the halfway point of the period on a tap-in in front of the net. 

Subway First Star of the Night, Troy Lajeunesse (Sturgeon Falls, Ont.), added to the lead at 1:36 after MacKinnon with another tap-in near the front of the net. 

By the end of the period, the Panthers had doubled up the Axemen in shots, 16-8. 

Acadia made a valiant comeback effort in the second frame thanks to goals from the second star of the night Nick Deakin-Poot (Georgetown, Ont.) and Luke Zazula (Langley, B.C.). 

Deakin-Poot took a wrist shot from the slot with 15:56 remaining to play in the second. His shot found the back of the net and was so hard, it knocked the cap off of the goalie’s water bottle. 

Zazula put Acadia within one at the 8:21 mark in the second period, on a toe-drag wrist shot in the slot. He was able to score after Bailey Peach (Falmouth, N.S.) kept the puck in the zone after shaking a defender at the blue-line with a spin move.  

However, the Panthers doubled up their lead with 42.8 seconds left in the frame. 

Lajeunesse potted his second of the night on a power-play one-timer while set up in the right circle in Acadia’s zone. 

The shots were much closer by the end of the second, with UPEI holding a 27-25 lead. 

It was a tense third period, as Acadia tried to tie things up, but were largely unable to solve the Panthers goalie, Jonah Capriotti (Charlottetown, P.E.I.). 

To make things interesting, Peyton Hoyt (Fredericton, N.B.) netted a power-play goal from the point in the final minute of the game with the goalie pulled. 

A comeback was not in the cards for Acadia, as the Panthers added an empty-net goal thanks to Darian Pilon. 

UPEI Panther Kyle Maksimovich (Oakville, Ont.) was awarded the third star of the night. 

Zachary Paputsakis (Rockland, Ont.) turned aside 25 of 29 shots on the night. Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) stopped all three shots he faced when he came in for a brief relief of Paputsakis to end the first period. UPEI goalie Jonah Capriotti stopped 33 of 36 shots on the night. 

Acadia returns to the ice on Wednesday, Oct. 26 against the Saint Mary’s Huskies at home. The puck drop for the game is 7:00 pm. The Panthers travel to Saint Mary’s on Friday night. 

McCollum stops 25 of 29 shots in loss

Recap by Troy Langstaff / SMU Huskies Athletics

The Saint Mary’s Huskies kept their perfect record alive with a 4-0 victory over the Acadia Axemen Wednesday night at the Dauphinee Centre. 

U SPORTS released their latest rankings on Tuesday which saw the Huskies punch their way into the top ten at #4 in the country. SMU came out of the gates with confidence, but the visiting Axemen were up to the task bringing a physical style of play to counter. 

The first good chance off the game came seven minutes into the frame when the Huskies worked the puck across the offensive zone with the shot from Sam King (Hampton, NB) ringing off the post. 

Saint Mary’s took back-to-back penalties which gave Acadia 27 seconds of 5-on-3. They were unable to capitalize and as the Huskies got back to even strength Nathan Dunkley (Campbellford, ON) came off the bench, collected the puck in the neutral zone, carried it across the blue line and using the defender as a screen, fired a wrist shot past Conor McCollum (Pickering, ON) to open the scoring. 

Acadia took a penalty eight seconds after the goal and SMU almost extended their lead. A quick shot from Andrew Coxhead (Bedford, NS) in the slot was saved by McCollum and Bradey Johnson’s (Lindsay, ON) second chance opportunity was also thwarted by the fifth-year goalie. 

Shots were 9-9 at the first intermission. 

Saint Mary’s was unable to score on an early powerplay in the second period but just minutes later Joel Bishop (St. John’s, NL) was tripped up on a breakaway which awarded him a penalty shot. On the attempt he skated in slow and tried to slide the puck five hole, but McCollum made a stick save. 

It wouldn’t take long though for the Huskies to get another chance. The Axemen got caught on a bad change which resulted in a 3-on-2 rush for SMU. Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) fed a pass to Keith Getson (Bridgewater, NS) who snapped a shot underneath the arm of McCollum to extend the lead to 2-0. 

Acadia had a chance to get back in the game when an unsuccessful but dangerous powerplay that turned into five straight minutes of offensive zone time without a whistle. The best chance came on a spin-o-rama pass from Nicholas Deakin-Poot (Georgetown, ON) to Merrick Rippon (Ottawa, ON) who launched a shot off Matthew Welsh’s (Halifax, NS) mask. Seconds later Cole Rafuse (Kingston, ON) just narrowly missed the open net on a back hand try. The Axemen dominated play for the five-minute stretch and fired eight shots on goal during that time but were unable to beat Welsh. 

Minutes later Reilly Webb (Stoney Creek, ON) got a two-minute minor and 10-minute misconduct for hitting from behind putting the Huskies on the powerplay. During the man advantage Dawson Theede (Brooklin, ON) slid a pass into the slot for a wide-open Coxhead who fired the shot off the post and in to give SMU the 3-0 lead. 

Acadia led in shots 25-19 after 40 minutes of play.  

Just three and a half minutes into the final period the home side would add another tally. This time it was Charlie Dafonseca (Thornhill, ON) who, off a SMU clearing attempt, beat the Acadia defender in a race to the puck then went in on a partial break before flipping the puck over McCollum’s shoulder.  

Liam Kidney (Enfield, NS) had a great chance to answer for Acadia when he went in a breakaway of his own but snapped the shot wide of the net. The Axemen got another late 2-on-1 chance but it resulted in another pad save by Welsh off the shot by Kidney. 

Saint Mary’s held on for the 4-0 victory. Welsh made 28 saves for his 2nd shutout of the year and earned AUS Player of the Game honours. 

With the loss the Axemen record drops to 2-2 on the season. Acadia’s next test comes on Saturday when they host the UPEI Panthers in Wolfville. 

The Huskies win improved their record to 4-0 on the season, with an impressive +14 goal differential. Saint Mary’s will travel to Charlottetown on Friday to take on the Panthers. Puck drop is 7 p.m. 

McCollum stops 27 of 30 shots for Acadia

WOLFVILLE,  N.S. – It was a rousing comeback victory for the Acadia Axemen (2-1-0) on Homecoming weekend against the Moncton Aigles Bleus (1-2-0) on Saturday night.

Rookie Axemen Liam Kidney (Enfield, N.S.) was a big reason for the Acadia victory, as he potted a hat trick in Acadia’s 6-3 win.  He was awarded the Subway First Star of the Night honours for his efforts.

Moncton opened the scoring on the night when Yann-Felix Lapointe (Granby, Que.) wired a puck off the right post and into the net.

The lead was short-lived for the Aigles Bleus, as Acadia forward Liam Kidney tied the game just under a minute later.

Kidney took a shot from the top of the left circle to make it 1-1.

Moncton came storming back with a power-play marker from Vincent Deslauriers (Blainville, Que.) two minutes later. He ripped a shot from the point on the left side that fooled the Acadia goalie and gave the Aigles Bleus their only lead of the game.

Heading into the second, Moncton held a 2-1 lead despite being outshot by the Axemen.

Kidney answered the call for his team again, scoring the first of three unanswered goals on the night for the Axemen in the second period.

For his second goal, Kidney took a pass from Merrick Rippon (Ottawa, Ont.) and ripped a shot past the Moncton goalie Felix-Anthony Ethier (Deux-Montagnes, Que.) to make it 2-2.

Forward Peyton Hoyt (Fredericton, N.B.) potted another marker for the Axemen on a tap-in goal in front of the net to give Acadia their first lead of the game.

To cap off the period, Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, Sask.) scored the first goal of his USPORTS career less than a minute after Hoyt’s to double their lead 4-2. Nagy was named the third star of the night for his efforts.

At the end of the second period, Acadia held a commanding 32-16 lead in shots.

Kidney capped off his hat trick in the third period with a goal in close of the Moncton goal. In the first three games of the season, Kidney has scored five goals, which is good enough for second in the AUS.

For his final goal of the game, Kidney chipped a pass from Brendan Sellan in front of the net to make it 5-2.

Moncton responded with a goal in the final minutes of the game from the second star of the night, Vincent Lanoune (Repentigny, Que.), on a cross-ice tap-in in front of the net.

Nick Deakin-Poot (Georgetown, Ont.) sealed the victory for the Axemen with an empty-net short-handed goal.

Axemen goalie Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) turned aside 27 of 30 shots on the night, while his Moncton counterpart Ethier stopped 38 of 43 shots on the night.

Acadia returns to the ice on Wednesday, Oct. 20 night against Saint Mary’s before returning home on Saturday, Oct. 22 to take on the UPEI Panthers. The puck drop for both games is 7:00 pm. Moncton travels to Saint Mary’s for a rare Sunday evening game.