Corneil with a goal and an assist in win

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U SPORTS No. 4 ranked Acadia Axemen extend their winning streak to nine games and improve to 9-1 with a convincing 4-1 win over the visiting StFX X-Men.

“I thought we played really well. We didn’t put up with the stuff they like to do after the whistle. That’s a big thing with X, they want to get on you after the whistle. I thought we kept our composure and our focus. We took it to them early on and we just kept going,” noted Jack Flaman who had the empty netter to put the game out of reach with just over a minute remaining in the game.

The opening period saw no goals or even close calls until the X-Men struck with 33 seconds remaining in the first frame.  Adam Laishram scored an unassisted goal as he skated past Logan Flodell and pulled off a wrap-around goal that gave StFX the lead heading into the locker room.

With Acadia doubling StFX with 10-5 shots on net in the first period, the Axemen tied the game at the 7:51 mark of the second period when Cristiano Digiacinto scored his seventh goal of the season after a beautiful across the top of the crease pass from teammate Jordy Stallard.

The Axemen grabbed a 2-1 lead with just under three minutes remaining in the second period. With the X-Men on the powerplay, Axeman Garrett McFadden won a race for a loose puck in the neutral zone and was pulled down as he raced on the breakaway. McFadden would not fail, taking a high shot over the blocker side of Joseph Raaymakers on the penalty shot that followed.

With a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame, the Axemen extended the lead to 3-1 on a Johnny Corneil one-timer shot from a feed from the corner from Stephen Harper. Corneil’s goal at 8:37 of the third period gave the Axemen comfortable lead into the closing of the game.Read more »

Stallard nets game winner for Axemen

By Thomas Becker

The UPEI Panthers failed to protect a 2-0 lead for the second time in a week, as the Acadia Axemen poured in three unanswered goals in the third period to steal a 3-2 win.

Rodney Southam kick started the surge early in the decisive frame, followed by a quick goal by Mason McCarty and the eventual game-winner by Jordy Stallard at 11:15. UPEI’s Kameron Kielly led all scorers with a pair of goals.

The Axemen (8-1) felt they played well enough through the first two periods to carry a lead into the third, but couldn’t solve netminder Simon Hofley, who finished with 24 saves.

“We had a few unlucky bounces early, but we just stuck with it, kept pounding shots and we knew our time would come,” said Stallard, who was named the Subway Player of the Game.

The Panthers (1-5-1) came out with a lot of energy looking to snap their three-game skid and broke through at 11:49, when the puck cycled to Kielly in the right circle where he wired a shot top shelf for the power play marker. Read more »

Digiacinto racks up 5 points for Acadia

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U SPORTS No. 7 ranked Axemen out-scored the visiting Saint Mary’s Huskies 9-8 in a shoot-out that raised a lot of eyebrows following the opening period.

The Axemen quickly began the onslaught of goals early in the opening period. Rodney Southam scored his first goal of the season on a nice feed across a crowded crease from Cristiano Digiacinto at 3:46.

Digiacinto would score his own on a two-on-one with Stephen Harper trailing less than a minute later. Digiacinto dropped it to Harper who then fed it back to Digiacinto for his first of two goals.

Huskie Sam Dunn scored on a lighting wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle on the man-advantage to close the lead by one.

Stephen Harper replied a minute later with a one-timer from the slot off the feed from Digiacinto from the side of the net to give Acadia a 3-1 lead at the mid-point of the first period.

Keith Getson scored the first of two goals near the end of the opening period from a pass from Mitchell Balmas deep in the corner.

With just over three minutes remaining in the first period, Eric Henderson scored to give the Axemen a 4-2 lead heading into the first intermission.

The scoring continued into the second period. Five additional goals were scored including Maurizio Colella’s breakaway goal that opened the second frame.

The Huskies replied with two goals that were 45 seconds apart beginning at the 8:03 mark with a Mitchell Balmas goal followed by Getson’s second of the night to close the Axemen lead to 5-4.

The Subway Player of the Game, Cristiano Digiacinto added his second goal of the night to push the lead to 6-4 at 14:07 of the second period, but the Huskies responded again less than a minute later to close out the second period in a 6-5 deficit.

Jack Flaman scored the first of two goals in the third frame. Flaman’s goal came at the 2:27 mark of the final frame. Teammate Jordy Stallard added a powerplay goal to give Acadia an 8-5 advantage with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation time.

Saint Mary’s went back to work when Dawson Theede scored on the powerplay with just under five minutes remaining in the game. Sam King made the game even more interesting as time ran down 3:25 remaining in the final period.

It was Jack Flaman who scored the eventual game-winner with 1:52 remaining in the game when Huskie goalie Xavier Potvin tried to clear the puck from behind the net around the boards. Digiacinto picked up the puck along the boards and fed it to a waiting Flaman for the one-time shot and goal.

Trailing 9-7 in the closing minutes of the game, the Huskies pulled the goalie to get the extra man and scored at 19:33 to come within a goal of tying the game. The Axemen would hold onto the 9-8 lead for their seventh straight win.

“I have never seen a game like that. The score was 9-8 but it definitely could have been 13-12. I am just glad it ended the way it did. Our big focus this year has been ‘find ways to win’ no matter what the situation of the game is and I think we are really doing a good job at it. It’s just another one to put in the win column,” noted Jack Flaman following the Axemen’s seventh straight win.

Both goalies remained in their respective nets for the entire game. Potvin stopped 33 shots, while Logan Flodell stopped 23.

The Axemen improve to 7-1-0 to remain in first place in the AUS standings and will head to the Island to take on UPEI on Saturday. The Huskies drop to 4-3-0 and head home until next week’s road trip to StFX on Wednesday.

Colella with a goal & an assist in victory

WOLFVILLE N.S. – The Acadia Axemen continued their hot start to the season as they defeated the visiting UPEI Panthers by a score of 4 to 3 on homecoming weekend.

The Axemen were the first team on the scoreboard almost halfway through the first period. Rodney Southam received a nice pass in the slot from teammate Eric Henderson before beating the UPEI goalie to the high glove for his first of the year. Maurizio Colella also assisted.

It took just over 2 and a half minutes for Acadia to double their lead when Johnny Corneil deflected in teammate Liam Maaskant’s point shot to tally his second of the season. Jordy Stallard had the second assist on the play.

Acadia led 2 to 0 after the first 20 minutes.

Kyle Maksimovich opened the second-period scoring and brought UPEI within a goal after he weaved through the Axemen defense and beat goalie Logan Flodell with a wicked shot over the shoulder. The powerplay goal came just over 2 minutes into the frame and was assisted by Owen Headrick and Darian Pilon.

Maksimovich buried his second of the period and tied the game after maneuvering his way into the slot and eventually slipping a backhand shot through the Axemen goalie. The goal came at 12:28 into the second and was assisted by Jordan Maher and Andrew Picco.Read more »

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Harper & Stallard with 3 points each

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – With 1:44 remaining in the game and a 4-2 lead, the hockey Axemen almost threw away a win.

In less than two minutes remaining in regulation time, the StFX X-Men tied the game at four to force the game into overtime.

At 4:42 of the extra period, Stephen Harper was hauled down on a breakaway and the story was written. Last season’s top goal scorer for the Axemen made no mistake in ending the game on a penalty shot as he beat Blade Mann-Dixon low on the blocker side.

“I have seen him in practice and he has that scoring touch, so I had all my money in him,” commented Rodney Southam following the game when asked what his thoughts were when Harper capitalized on the penalty shot to win.

While the score told one story, the shots on goal told another. The Axemen outshot the U SPORTS No. 3 ranked X-men 39-29 and it wasn’t until the third period that StFX held that advantage based on several powerplay opportunities.

The opening period saw both teams exchange goals only seconds after the other scored.

Jordy Stallard scored his first of two goals at 5:51 of the first frame. Forty-one seconds later, Dan Robertson replied on a short side glove hand shot that beat Logan Flodell.

At the 16:46 mark, StFX took their first lead of the game that lasted 42 seconds. Cole MacDonald scored his first of two goals, beating Flodell from the same spot on the ice as the previous goal, but the blocker hand side on the powerplay.Read more »

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