Digiacinto leads the way with 4 points in win

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen hockey team take a 2-0 lead in the AUS best of five semifinal series on a 5-2 win over the visiting Saint Mary’s Huskies.

Cristiano Digiacinto picked up two goals and two assists in the Axemen win over the Huskies and was named the Subway Player of the Game.

“Playing our game and not worrying about the other team. If we do what we do best, we are going to win games. I think if we keep doing what we do and sticking to our game plan is something that is going to make us successful throughout the playoffs and leading into the Nationals,” said Digiacinto following the game.

A repeat of game one between the Axemen and Huskies, the opening period was scoreless.

Digiacinto opened the six goal second period on a deflected Ross MacDougall shot from the high slot to give the Axemen a 1-0 lead at the 5:06 mark of the second frame on the powerplay.

The Huskies tied the game four minutes later after the Axemen coughed up the puck in their own end. Anthony Repaci fed Dawson Theede across the crease for the first of two Huskie powerplay goals in the second period.

Senior forward Stephen Harper replied at 13:26 of the second frame with another Acadia powerplay goal to give the Axemen a 2-1 lead that would last only three minutes.

Saint Mary’s scored their second goal with the man-advantage when Dawson Theede’s wide shot went off the end boards and came out to Alex Peters who sent a high blocker side shot over Logan Flodell’s shoulder.Read more »

Flodell stops 33 shots in victory

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The unranked Acadia Axemen opened the best of five semifinal series with a 4-1 win over the U SPORTS No. 9 ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies.

Axeman Logan Flodell was named the Subway Player of the Game stopping 33 of 34 shots for the win. Flodell was recently named the AUS Most Valuable Player by the AUS head coaches.

Flodell praised the effort by his defensive unit during a hard-fought game against the Huskies.

“Our D worked on picking up sticks around the net. That’s what they wanted to do was throw pucks around my feet and get rebounds and they did that pretty well tonight and our defense battled hard,” noted Flodell following the game.

The opening period was scoreless with the Huskies out-shooting the host Axemen 11-5, but the game opened up after five and half minutes into the second frame.

Third-year forward Cristiano Digiacinto scored the series-opening goal after tapping in a pass across the crease from teammate Tate Olson.

The Axemen pushed the lead to 2-0 on a Mason McCarty goal a minute and eighteen seconds later. McCarty picked up the loose puck in front of the Huskies’ net after a feed from Owen MacDonald.

The Huskies cut the lead in half on a late second period goal when Joel Bishop picked up a turned over puck on a misplay behind the net.Read more »

Harper, McNulty with 2 points in Acadia loss

Antigonish, NS – The StFX X-Men closed out AUS regular season play with a 5-2 victory over the Acadia Axemen Saturday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre.

The X-Men scored three power play goals in the game as the held leads of 3-0 after one and 4-1 after two periods.

Acadia went on the penalty kill 23 seconds into the game and the X-Men took advantage as Santino Centorame (Mississauga, ON)) scored at 1:27 on the man-advantage. He beat Axemen netminder Dawson Carty (St. Stephen, NB) on a shot from the face-off circle.

Adam Laishram (Ashburn, ON) scored five minutes later, again on the power play, on a nice shot off a feed from Adam Holwell (St. John’s, NL).

Bryson Cianfrone (Stoney Creek, ON) rounded out the first period scoring with a goal at 16:54 as he put the puck into the open side of the Acadia net, pouncing on a Holwell rebound.

The X-Men outshot the Axemen 15-3 in the opening period.

The visitors responded in the second period as Stephen Harper (Burlington, ON) tallied just over six minutes in, putting in a rebound as the puck bounced around the X crease in front of goaltender Blade Mann-Dixon (Antigonish, NS).

The X-Men regained their three-goal lead on a power play goal by Regan Spears (Port Hood, NS) as he netted a rebound after Carty made the save on a Matt Needham (Kamloops, BC) shot.

StFX outshot Acadia 10-7 in the second period and took the 4-1 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes.

Marc McNulty (Medicine Hat, AB) closed the gap when he scored for the Axemen just 18 seconds into the third period. Harper won the face-off in the X zone, circled behind the net and got it out front to the open McNulty who beat Mann-Dixon.Read more »

7 different players with goals for Acadia

WOLFVILLE N.S. – The Acadia Axemen’s Senior Night and final home game of the season proved to be a fruitful one, as they came away victorious over the visiting Dalhousie Tigers Friday night.

“We made a couple of blunders. A couple of mistakes we haven’t been making and they scored. We did play better in the last 10 minutes which was nice to see. Overall we put in a pretty good effort, sometimes near the end of the season it’s a little tougher with the grind that goes on, but we’re pretty pleased the way we performed,” said assistant coach Mike Alcoe following the win.

With 5:24 remaining in the first, Acadia found the back of the net. Axemen forward Maurizio Colella parked himself in front of goal and deflected in a Liam Maskaant point shot to put Acadia ahead 1-0 on the powerplay. Ross MacDougall also assisted.

The Axemen were not done there. Just 1:12 later, Owen MacDonald buried his 10^th of the season after capitalizing on a Dalhousie turnover with a perfect wrister over the blocker of Dalhousie goaltender Kevin Resop and under the bar, popping the water bottle on its way in.

The teams headed to the dressing rooms after 20 minutes with Acadia leading 2-0.

At the 6:35 mark of the second period, Acadia defenceman Ross MacDougall added a goal to his points tally for the evening with a slapshot from the tops of the circles that found its’ way through the scrambling Tiger’s goalie. The goal was assisted by Stephen Harper and TJ Fergus.

Though both teams had scoring opportunities throughout the remainder of the period, neither squad could beat the oppositions netminder and score remained 3-0 for the Axemen after two.Read more »

McFadden with 3 points for Acadia

WOLFVILLE N.S – The Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus left the Andrew H. McCain Arena with a win 4-3 overtime-shootout win over the home Acadia Axemen. The overtime loss earns the Axemen one point in the standings – clinching the second place in the AUS standings and a quarterfinal bye.

Acadia’s Garrett McFadden was first to find the back of the net 4:21 into the game when his pass aimed for a teammate at the side of the goal hit a UdeM player’s skate and found its way past the foot of goaltender Etienne Montpetit. The powerplay goal was assisted by TJ Fergus and Owen MacDonald.

The powerplay remained hot for the Axemen as Stephen Harper doubled the lead about two minutes later on a 5-on-3 break. After receiving a McFadden pass just below the goal line, he patiently found his way to a shooting angle and fired it to the far side past the blocker of Montpetit. Cristiano Digiacinto also assisted the goal.

Les Aigles Bleus brought the game back within one with 4:55 remaining in the opening period. Maxime St-Cyr’s one-time slapshot hit an Acadia penalty killer before finding its way past Logan Flodell. The 5-on-3 powerplay goal was assisted by Vincent Lanoue and Samuel Guilbault.

Moncton was not done there. The same three players combined to tie the game within 30 seconds of the last goal. This time it was Samuel Guilbault who found the net, tapping in a pass through the five-hole of Flodell for yet another powerplay goal.Read more »

Corneil & MacDougall with Acadia goals

WOLFVILLE N.S. –The visiting UNB Reds came away from victorious over the home Acadia Axemen, winning by a score of 4-2 and extend their winning streak to 11 while ending Acadia’s home game winning streak of 11.

The Axemen were the first team on the scoresheet. Johnny Corneil picked up the marker after finishing off a shorthanded 2 on 1 break by beating Reds goalie Samuel Harvey with a backhand through the five-hole. The goal was assisted by Rodney Southam and Tate Olsen.

The rest of the high-flying first period saw a bulk of chances at both ends, but no more goals. The Axemen led 1-0 after 20 minutes but trailed UNB’s 13-10 shots on goal advantage.

The second frame was a scoreless one, the main highlight coming from Axemen goaltender Logan Flodell who robbed UNB’s Tyler Boland with a flashy glove save on a one-timer in the slot. Even with numerous powerplay opportunities for both the Reds and the Axemen, neither team was able to find the back of the net and the score remained 1-0 for the home team.

Within the first two minutes of the third, UNB tied up the game at one.

Kris Bennett found a loose puck in front of the goal and showed great patience to maneuver around the goalie before sliding the puck past the outstretched Logan Flodell. The goal was shorthanded.Read more »

Digiacinto with 3 goals, 1 assist in Acadia win

Read more »

Flodell brilliant in Acadia net with 36 saves

(Halifax, NS) In AUS men’s hockey action, the Saint Mary’s Huskies hosted the Acadia Axemen at the Dauphinee Centre and two power play goals helped propel the Huskies to a 4-2 win.

The Axemen were looking to get in control early, using regroups in the neutral zone to great effect. The Huskies, meanwhile, had a couple sloppy defensive plays that led to scoring chances for the Axemen. First was a dangerous pass through the middle on their breakout that was picked off by an Axemen forechecker; shortly after, a giveaway in front of the net gave Ryan Foss (Oakville, ON) an opportunity to open the scoring. Huskies goalie Eric Brassard (St. Hubert, QC) had to be sharp early to keep the game scoreless.

Once the Huskies started getting their feet moving, the game evened out. With a couple back-to-back power plays, they generated chances with shots from the point and opened the scoring halfway through the period.

On the man advantage, Stephen Johnson (Moncton, NB) came into the zone down the right wing. The rebound from his sharp angle shot popped straight out in the slot to Keith Getson (Bridgewater, NS), who put home the rebound. Anthony Repaci (Toronto, ON) also assisted.

The Axemen responded with just under four minutes left in the first frame. In a pretty passing play down low, the puck danced between Jordy Stallard (Brandon, MB) and Mason McCarty (Blackie, AB) before getting dished to Cristiano Digiacinto (Hamilton, ON), who had an open net for the Axemen’s first goal.

After an Acadia power play, the first period ended with the teams tied 1-1, each with 10 shots.Read more »