Jones scores the winner on the powerplay

WOLFVILLE – The Acadia Axemen had a big three-goal third period to pick up a 4-2 victory over the Dalhousie Tigers in their final home game of the regular season on Friday night in Wolfville.  

Adam McMaster (Beamsville, ON) opened the scoring for the Axemen just five minutes into the first period, where the score stood until 1:25 into the second when Evan MacKinnon (Beaverbank, NS) tied the game for Dalhousie. Just six minutes later Alec Belanger (Quebec City, QC) gave the Tigers the lead, which stood heading into the third.  

Over halfway through the final frame Nick Deakin-Poot (Georgetown, ON) tied the game, followed by a power play goal by Zack Jones (North Falmouth, MA) at the 17:57 mark to put the Axemen back in the lead.  

Reilly Webb (Stoney Creek, ON) iced the game with an empty-net goal in the final minute.  

Thomas Couture (Levis, QC) made 21 saves in the victory, while Nicholas Chenard (Tecumseh, ON) made 30 saves in the loss. 

Acadia wraps up their regular season on Saturday night at StFX, while Dalhousie travels across town to face the Saint Mary’s Huskies. The Axemen hold the final playoff spot in the conference and await Saturday’s results to see if they will play the StFX X-Men or Saint Mary’s Huskies in the opening round of the AUS playoffs. 

Prior to the game Acadia recognized their 2023-24 graduating seniors: Nick Deakin-Poot, Morgan Nauss (Hammonds Plains, NS), Reilly Webb, and Hudson Wilson (Toronto, ON). 

Axemen will finish 6th in the AUS conference

WOLFVILLE – The UPEI Panthers bounced back from a two-goal deficit with three unanswered goals in the first 6:12 of the third period to earn a 4-3 victory over the Acadia Axemen on Tuesday night in Wolfville.  

Tuesday’s game, postponed from the originally scheduled time on Saturday, saw the Panthers’ Elias Cohen (Toronto, ON) open the scoring just 1:08 into game. 

Acadia’s Ethan Ernst (Weyburn, SK) tied the game 6:08 into the first on the power play.  

Back-to-back Axemen goals within a minute of each other by Liam Kidney (Enfield, NS) and Brendan Sellan (Bolton, ON) put Acadia up 3-1 midway through the first. The score stood until the third.  

Ben McFarlane (Ayr, ON) chipped into the lead with his goal 1:20 into the third before a pair of goals by Noah Sedore (Sharon, ON) at 3:58 and 6:12 gave the Panthers their second lead of the night.  

Jonah Capriotti (Charlottetown, PE) made 25 saves in the win for UPEI, while Thomas Couture (Levis, QC) made 12 saves in the loss.  

UPEI wraps up their season with road games against Moncton and UNB this weekend, while Acadia hosts Dalhousie on Friday before hitting the road to face StFX on Saturday night.  

The AUS postseason will start next week with opponents for the quarter-final round still to be determined based on this weekend’s results.  

Sellan with 2 goals for the Axemen

WOLFVILLE – After taking the game to overtime with a goal in the final minute of regulation, the Axemen fell 4-3 to the Saint Mary’s Huskies thanks to the game-winning goal by Declan McDonnell (Buffalo, NY).  

McDonnell’s goal came 1:39 into the extra frame, with assists from Nathan Dunkley (Campbellford, ON) and Ben Roger (Markham, ON).  

Brendan Sellan (Bolton, ON) scored a pair of goals to lead Acadia’s offence, including the game-tying goal with 40 seconds to go in regulation with goaltender Thomas Couture (Levis, QC) pulled.  

Couture made 35 saves in the loss, while Jeremy Helvig (Kingston, ON) made 21 saves for the Huskies in the victory.  

The point on Wednesday proves big for the Axemen as they are now five points on the Dalhousie Tigers for the final playoff spot. With four games remaining for the Tigers, they have a possible eight points available, needing to win at least one this weekend to make next week’s meeting with the Axemen matter for a postseason push.   

Two points for the Huskies puts them in third place in the AUS, just two points back of Moncton for second place and two points ahead of StFX in fourth.  

Acadia will now host UPEI at home on Saturday night, while Saint Mary’s hosts UPEI on Friday night. Puck drop for both games is 7 p.m.

Zack Jones with the lone Acadia goal

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB REDS scored four consecutive goals in a 4-1 win over the Acadia Axemen in the 32nd annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial Game, Saturday night at UNB’s Aitken Centre. 

Macauley Carson (Midhurst, ON), Sean McGurn (Ottawa, ON), Michael Petizian (Mississauga, ON), and Kale McCallum (Rothesay, NB) scored for the REDS as they extended their undefeated streak to 26 games. 

Austin Keating (Guelph, ON), who was presented with the prestigious Mark Jeffrey Memorial Scholarship prior to the game, recorded two assists and was named Tim Horton’s Player of the Game. 

“It’s a huge honour,” said Keating, of being the recipient of the Jeffrey Scholarship. “He meant so much to this program, we have stuff all over the room honouring him, and we talk about him often, about the type of person he was.” 

“He was a player’s player, is what we call him,” Keating added. “The people who come into our locker room, that’s the type of guys we want. Someone like him. Being able to receive an award like that is a great honour.” 

The REDS wasted no time establishing their dominance in the opening period.  

“It was a great effort,” said Keating. “We started out a little slow, and they were coming at us a little bit, especially in the first five or ten minutes. But once we got our feet under us, we started taking it to them.” 

Brady Gilmour (Grafton, ON) had the REDS’ closest opportunity of the period, on the powerplay, receiving a pass from Keating, forcing Axemen goaltender, Zachary Paputsakis (Rockland, ON), to dive cross-crease, saving the puck with his stick paddle.  

The second period began, and so did the REDS scoring. 

Carson and McGurn, less than two minutes apart, scored off rebounds at 8:00 and 9:48.  

“I think Carson’s goal was huge for us,” Keating added. “Sam made some big stops when we needed it, and we grabbed momentum from there.” 

Petizian finished the period’s scoring frenzy by getting his stick on a pass from Keating, re-directing the puck under the crossbar with less than a minute left in the period. 

Leading 3-0, the REDS maintained their strong offence into the final frame. 

At 7:24, the Axemen made a goaltending change after an injury to Paputsakis. Thomas Couture (Lévis, QC) took his place in the crease. 

Paputsakis faced 37 REDS shots, saving 34. 

With a pass from Keating from behind the goal line, McCallum lasered a one-timer from his knee, landing the REDS’ fourth goal at 10:40, on the powerplay. 

Zach Jones (North Falmouth, MA), with just 17 seconds left on the clock, found his way past the REDS defenders. His shot beat REDS goaltender Samual Richard (Ste. Catherine, QC), blocker side, and rolled into the net. 

Richard stopped 17 shots for the REDS. 

“I thought it was a great team effort and a great weekend,” said Keating. “We’re looking to keep it rolling.” 

The Axemen are now in sixth place in the Atlantic University Sport standings with an 8-13-1-3 (W-L-OTL-SOL) record. 

UNB is 26-0-0-0. 

The REDS return to action Friday, in Antigonish, facing off against the STFX X-Men. Game time is 7:00pm. 

Acadia returns home for a Wednesday night game against the Saint Mary’s Huskies. Puck drop at 7:00pm. 

 

RECAP BY: Madison Tucker/for UNB Athletics 

PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics 

Deakin-Poot scores two in win

The Acadia University Axemen (8-13-1-3=20pts, 6th position) scored two quick goals in a span of 27 seconds midway through the first period to defeat the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (13-9-3-0=29pts, 2nd position) 5-1 on Friday night in an Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey game at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena in front of more than 670 spectators. 

The Saint Mary’s University Huskies (13-11-1-0=27pts, 3rd place) will be the visitors on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the same venue against the Aigles Bleus. The Axemen are in Fredericton to meet the UNB Reds.  

Cole Nagy on the power play on a hard shot in front of the net at 10:02 and Nick Deakin-Poot at 10:29 gave the visitors a 2-0 lead in the first. Charles-Edouard Drouin cut that lead to 2-1 midway through the second period, but Deakin-Poot, the game’s first star, with his second of the game at 15:05 gave his team a 3-1 lead before the end of the period. Peyton Hoyt at 2:15 and Adam McMaster 6 minutes later also found the back of the net in the third to secure the win for the visitors.  

Thomas Couture, the 3rd star, stopped 24 shots for the win in net and Olivier Adam had 24 in the loss. Acadia was 1-for-3 on the power play and Moncton was 0-for-6. 

The game was not the best for the Aigles Bleus as the Axemen managed to annihilate several of the Blue and Gold’s attacks. It was Moncton’s 3rd straight loss and Acadia’s 2nd win.  

People can purchase tickets for Saturday’s game during the day at the CEPS Louis-J.-Robichaud reception desk or one hour before the start of the game at the arena box office. 

2024/01/26 

Photo Normand A. Léger