Hopwo with the lone Acadia goal

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen (8-15-1-1) ended their five-game home run on a sour note, as they lost 4-1 to the Saint Mary’s Huskies (17-9-0-0).

The Huskies seemed a step ahead of the Axemen all night.

Subway First Star of the Night Nathan Dunkley (Campbellford, Ont.) had a pair of assists for the Huskies.

Both teams had their chances in the opening period. It was not until the last second of the first frame that the first goal was scored.

Saint Mary’s forward Sam King (Hampton, N.B.) put his team on the board thanks to a power-play marker with 0.5 seconds left on the clock.

King took a pass in front of the net and put the puck into the bottom left corner to make it 1-0.

At the end of the first period, Saint Mary’s held an 11-5 lead in shots.

Acadia quickly responded in the second period with a goal in the opening minute.

The second star of the night Corson Hopwo (Duncan, B.C.) came out in the front of the Saint Mary’s net and attempted to throw a pass across in front of the crease, but it deflected off a Huskies leg and into the net.

The teams traded chances throughout the period but remained gridlocked at one.

Saint Mary’s replied late in the third period with an even-strength marker shortly after a failed power-play attempt.

Liam Van Loon (London, Ont.) took a pass while parked in the left face-off circle and fired a quick shot past Acadia ‘s Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) to restore the lead for the Huskies.

Another late-period goal for the Huskies, as they added their third goal with 18 seconds remaining to play in the second.

Charlie Dafonseca (Thornhill, Ont.) redirected a shot from the third star of the night Jaxon Bellamy (Hampton, Ont.) to make it 3-1 for Saint Mary’s.

Heading into the third period, the Huskies held a 23-14 lead in shots.

Acadia ran into penalty trouble in the third, costing them a goal.

Jaxon Bellamy scored a power-play marker for Saint Mary’s near the midway point of the third. Bellamy lifted a high shot from the point that fooled McCollum to make it 4-1.

The Huskies played tight defence to keep Acadia from starting a comeback.

Conor McCollum turned aside 32 of 36 shots on the night, while his Saint Mary’s counterpart Jeremy Helvig (Kingston, Ont.) stopped 19 of 20 shots.

The Axemen return to play on Sat. January 28 at UPEI, which marks the start of a three-game road trip, the Huskies will head to UPEI on Friday night. Acadia’s next and last regular season home game is Friday, February 10 against the Dalhousie Tigers.

Provided by Joshua Foote, Acadia Athletics Communications Office

Hoyt with the lone goal for Acadia

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – All good things come to an end. In this case, it was the three-game winning streak for the Acadia Axemen (8-13-2-1) that was snapped by the UNB REDS (19-3-1-1) in a 5-1 loss on Saturday night.

Acadia’s lone goal in their effort came from the second star of the night Peyton Hoyt (Fredericton, N.B.). The offensive opportunities for the Axemen were limited as they were outshot 36-22 on the night.

The REDS jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period.

Subway First Star of the Night Emmett Sproule (Collingwood, Ont.) scored with 8:35 left in the opening frame thanks to a communication error by the Acadia defence.

Sproule picked up the puck just outside the Acadia blueline after the Axemen D-men ran into each other. He came in on the Acadia goalie Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) and snuck a shot low left side to put the REDS up 1-0.

Connor Hall (Kitchener, Ont.) scored a few minutes later, on a wrist shot from the point. The puck managed to get by the crowd in front of the net to double the lead for UNB.

Acadia responded 33 seconds later thanks to an incredible solo performance from Peyton Hoyt.

Hoyt split the defence at the REDS’ blueline with a burst of speed for a breakaway and shot low right side and beat REDS’ goaltender Samuel Richard to make it 2-1.

At the end of the period, the shots were 10-9 in favour of the REDS.

UNB doubled their goal total in the second period, going up 4-1 in the frame.

Sproule added his second marker on the night at 4:01 into the second period on a shot from the slot. He took a pass from Simon Pinard (Drummondville, Que.) and beat the McCollum low to make it 3-1.

Acadia had a few solid chances in the period, including a partial break from Hoyt, but they could not find the back of the net.

Jason Wilms (Kitchener, Ont.) scored the final goal of the period. Wilms was parked by the right post and buried the puck on a pass from Camaryn Baber (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) who was coming out from behind the Acadia net.

By the end of the second period, the REDS held a 29-17 lead in shots.

The first half of the third period was light on scoring but heavy on the rough stuff.

It was a scrum in front of the Acadia net that gave the REDS the man-advantage necessary to score their fifth goal on the night.

Benjamin Corbeil (Granby, Que.) sniped a one-timer from inside the left face-off circle to make it 5-1.

There were a couple of scrums that broke out in the final minutes of the game, but otherwise, it was an uneventful end to the game.

Acadia goalie Conor McCollum stopped 31 of 36 shots, while his UNB counterpart Samuel Richard turned aside 21 of the 22 shots he faced on the night.

The third star of the night was REDS defenceman Kade Landry (Gowanstown, Ont.).

Acadia returns to play on Wed. January 25 against the Saint Mary’s Huskies, while the REDS travel to STFX and Dalhousie next weekend.

Contributed by Joshua Foote, Acadia Athletics Communications Office

Nagy, Henderson & McMaster score in win  

Wolfville, N.S. – Make it three in a row for the Acadia Axemen (9-12-2-1) as they defeated the Moncton Aigles Bleus (10-13-1-0) 3-2 on Friday night. The win means that the Axemen trail Moncton by two points in the standings for fifth place. 

The Subway First Star of the Night Adam McMaster (Beamsville, N.S.) scored the game-winner on a power-play Acadia 5:43 into the final period. 

McMaster stepped in from the left side of the blueline and lifted a soft wrist shot into the middle of the net. 

“The boys were definitely snapping around in practice, and it translated into success in the game,” commented McMaster on his powerplay goal. “Coaches have been stressing on the powerplay to shoot the puck.” 

Acadia jumped out to an early lead thanks to a front-of-the-net scramble goal 4:42 into the first period. 

Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, Sask.) scooped up a rebound with Moncton’s goalie Etienne Montpetit (Valleyfield, Que.) laying on the ice to make it 1-0. 

Moncton responded late in the period with a tying goal from the second star of the night Nathael Roy (Levis, Que.), who took advantage of a failed clearing attempt by the Axemen. 

Roy corralled the puck in the right corner of the offensive zone, came in tight on the goalie, and lifted a wrister into the top corner to make it 1-1. 

It was an offensively dominant period for the Axemen, as they held a 16-5 lead in shots heading into the second period. 

Moncton took their first and only lead of the game in the second period. 

Maxime Boudreau (Cap-Pete, N.B.) scored the goal for Moncton with 9:41 left in the period 

Boudreau stepped into the slot and fired a shot five-hole to make it 2-1. 

Acadia’s best scoring opportunity in the period came when Corson Hopwo (Duncan, B.C.) attempted “the Michigan” behind the Moncton net. 

At the end of the period, the shots were 26-19 in favour of Acadia. 

Acadia mounted their comeback in the third with a pair of goals in the first six minutes of the period. 

Eric Henderson (Kingsville, Ont.) tied the game 1:40 into the final frame after picking up a rebound in front of the net and sliding it past Montpetit to make it 2-2. 

It was only four minutes later that McMaster scored what would be the eventual game-winner. 

Moncton made a valiant effort to tie the game, including pulling their goalie in the final minute but came up short. 

Acadia goalie Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) turned aside 27 of 29 shots on the night, while Etienne Montpetit stopped 37 of 40 shots. 

Acadia forward Keegan Stevenson (Aweres Township, Ont.) was named the third star of the night. 

Acadia returns to play tomorrow night against the REDS, while the Aigles Bleus head to Halifax to take on the Saint Mary’s Huskies. Both games start at 7:00 p.m. 

Provided by Joshua Foote, Acadia Athletics Communications Office 

Acadia wins pair of weekend games

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Make it two in a row for the Acadia Axemen (8-12-2-1) as they had a strong performance in a 4-2 win over the UPEI Panthers (14-7-1-1) on Saturday night. 

Subway First Star of the Night Adam McMaster (Beamsville, Ont.) scored the eventual game-winner with 6:50 left to play in the first period. 

“It’s definitely fun playing with a lead. We got off to a hot start at the beginning. We were not happy with the results after Christmas, but we got back to work in practice this week and the payoff was this weekend. It’s always nice to play at home,” noted McMaster after the game. 

Acadia struck first with a goal just under four minutes into the opening frame. 

Luke Zazula (Langley, B.C.) scored a beautiful marker after taking a feed from Bailey Peach. Zazula was left alone in the slot and wired a shot into the top left corner of the net to make it 1-0. 

UPEI responded with a power-play marker from Danil Antropov (Toronto, Ont.) roughly four minutes later. 

Antropov was left alone in the right corner, and he took advantage of his opportunity, taking a pass from Ryan Stephen (Stoney Creek, Ont.) for an easy goal. 

Acadia responded with a pair of goals to close out the period and take a commanding 3-1 lead into the second period. 

McMaster and Eric Henderson (Kingsville, Ont.) were the goal scorers for Acadia. 

McMaster broke in on a 2-on-1 with Liam Kidney (Enfield, N.S.), who made a beautiful cross-zone pass to give McMaster an easy tap-in to take the lead. 

Henderson scored two minutes later on a similar play, beating the UPEI goalie, Lucas Fitzpatrick (Lower Sackville, N.S.) at the five hole to give Acadia their 3-1 lead. 

The teams were tied 12-12 in shots at the end of the period. 

There was not much action in the second period, with Acadia adding a single goal in the final minutes of the frame to take a 4-1 lead into the final period. 

Despite having numerous power-play attempts in the second, it was actually the penalty kill that gave Acadia their goal. 

Corson Hopwo (Duncan, B.C.) scooped up the rebound from Peyton Hoyt’s (Fredericton, N.B) partial breakaway attempt and lifted it over the sprawling UPEI goalie to put his team up 4-1. 

By the end of the second, the shots were 24-20 for the Axemen. 

The second star of the night Kurtis Henry (Niagara Falls, Ont.) brought the Panthers back into the game with a power-play marker early in the third. 

Henry fired a shot from the point that fooled the Acadia goaltender Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) to make it 4-2. 

That was as close as the Panthers would get. They pulled their goalie at the end of the game but were unable to beat the Acadia goalie again. 

Acadia forward Merrick Rippon (Ottawa, Ont.) took home the third star of the night honours. 

McCollum stopped 28 of 30 shots on the night, while his UPEI counterpart, Fitzpatrick, turned aside 26-30 shots on the night. 

The Axemen return to play next Friday against Moncton, while the Panthers travel to Dalhousie next Friday. 

Provided by Joshua Foote, Acadia Athletics Communications Office
Photos provided by Peter Oleskevich 

Nagy & Peach with the Acadia tallies

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – In the first of a five-game homestand, and the home-opener of 2023, the Acadia Axemen (6-12-1-1) came out with a victory. Acadia downed the Saint Mary’s Huskies (14-8-0-0) 2-1 on Friday night in Wolfville. 

Snapping a losing streak of three games, the Axemen trail Moncton and STFX by six points in the AUS standings in sixth place.  

“It was a huge, big game for us. We wanted to come out strong and play the way we know we can,” said AUS Subway First Star of the Game, Corson Hopwo (Duncan, B.C.). “We wanted to get the cycle going and get shots on net and run their d-men. So I think we played well tonight and we want to keep it going into tomorrow.” 

Despite holding the lead in shots for the opening frame, Acadia was down 1-0 by the end of the first period. 

The play was even between the teams throughout the period. Both sides had a number of chances, but it was Saint Mary’s who struck first. 

Saint Mary’s opened the scoring with 90 seconds left in the first frame. 

Charlie Dafonseca (Thornhill, Ont.) potted a goal for the Huskies on a quick pass from Nathan Dunkely (Campbellford, Ont.) to open the scoring. 

By the end of the first period, the shots were 9-8 in favour of Acadia. 

It was all Acadia in the second, as they responded with a pair of goals to take a 2-1 lead heading into the third frame. 

The Axemen tied the game on a goal from Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, Sask.), 12 minutes into the second period. 

Acadia used a strong breakout from their zone to score. Nagy took a pass from Nick Deakin-Poot (Georgetown, Ont.) and ripped a shot past the glove of Saint Mary’s goalie Jeremy Helvig (Kingston, Ont.). 

Bailey Peach (Falmouth, N.S.) gave Acadia their first lead of the game just over three minutes later. 

Peach sniped a shot from the slot to make it 2-1 for Acadia. 

At the end of the second period, Acadia held a commanding 23-13 lead in shots. 

Neither team was able to add to the scoresheet in a tight defensive third period. 

Acadia had a shot at getting an empty-netter late in the game, but they were unable to capitalize on the opportunity, making for a tense final minute of play. 

Acadia goalie Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) turned aside 22 of 23 shots on the night, while his Saint Mary’s counterpart, Jeremy Helvig, stopped 31 of 33 shots on net. 

Acadia returns to play tomorrow night in Wolfville against the UPEI Panthers, while the Huskies host the UNB REDS next Friday night.