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Leier 13th on Axemen all-time career goal list with 54

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Senior Axemen forward Boston Leier will be continuing his hockey career after four years with the Acadia Axemen hockey team.

Leier, from Saskatoon, Sask., will join the Ottawa Senators farm team the Belleville Senators of the AHL this week.

“We are very excited for Boston and his opportunity with the Senators. He has worked extremely hard and has committed himself here for four seasons.  His work ethic has been impeccable every practice and every game. It has been a pleasure to watch him develop and lead the Axemen hockey program. We look forward to watching his game continue to grow at the pro level,” said Acadia head coach Darren Burns

Leier, who played five seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers and a year with the Regina Pats in the junior ranks, joined the Axemen in 2014. Over his four-year career at Acadia, Leier played 111 regular season games and accumulated 54 goals and 60 assists. His best season to date was this past season where he posted 39 points – 15 goals and 24 assists and was named as a second team AUS All-Star.

An assistant captain with the Axemen for the last three seasons, Leier led the Axemen with six goals and five assists during this year’s AUS playoffs. While with the Axemen, Leier made three visits to the U SPORTS University Cup including the Axemen’s bronze medal win in 2017,

“I’m really excited. It’s a great opportunity. I was hoping there was some interest and I got a call from Darren and Kevin Dickie and it just took off from there. I had to figure out some stuff with school to make sure it was feasible and I would be able to graduate on time. That’s one of the great things about Acadia is the support from the athletics and academic departments to help you pursue your goals,” noted Leier.Read more »

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Post-game Press Conference following the Acadia Axemen’s 8-6 quarterfinal loss to the Alberta Golden Bears at the University Cup USports National Tournament.

Coach Darren Burns talks about his team and their season.

Acadia captain 5th year defenceman Geoff Schemitsch talks about the game and his last game as an Axeman. Congrats Geoff on an outstanding university hockey career.

Axemen third year forward Kyle Farrell, on his thoughts of the late third period rally vs Alberta.

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2018 U SPORTS Cavendish Farms University Cup

Quarter-final 3: Golden Bears hold on to beat Acadia 

March 16, 2018

FREDERICTON (U SPORTS) – Stephane Legault had a five-point afternoon and Riley Kieser had two goals and two assists as the Alberta Golden Bears beat the Acadia Axemen 8-6 in the third quarter-final game of the 2018 U SPORTS Cavendish Farms University Cup.

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Jason Fram and Cole Sanford each picked up a goal and two assists in the win for Alberta.

The Golden Bears avenge their quarter-final loss against Acadia at last year’s University Cup with the win.

“It was never about redemption,” said Golden Bears head coach Serge Lajoie.

Alberta quickly entered the Acadia zone off the opening faceoff. Kieser converted on a cross-ice, backhand pass from Fram to open the scoring just 13 seconds in.

After some back and forth action, Kieser would score his second goal, redirecting a pass from the corner to put the Bears up by two.

Kyle Farrell responded for Acadia just 16 seconds later with a quick shot from the slot.Read more »

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The 2018 U SPORTS Cavendish Farms University kicks off on Thursday at the Aitken University Centre in Fredericton and concludes next Sunday with the gold-medal final at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. The semifinals and final will be broadcast live on Sportsnet 360 and SN Now. All remaining games will be livestreamed at USPORTS.LIVE.

A championship schedule and team-by-team previews are available below.

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The Acadia Axemen have punched their ticket to the University Cup U Sports National tournament which starts this upcoming Thursday, March 15th in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The Acadia Axemen have been seeded in the 7th position in the 8 team tournament. They will be joined by fellow AUS teams StFX X-Men (5th) & the host UNB Varsity Reds (1st), along with the University of Alberta Golden Bears (2nd), McGill University (3rd), the Brock Badgers (4th), University of Saskatchewan Huskies (6th), & Concordia Stingers (8th).

For more on the University Cup, visit https://usports.ca/en/championships/hockey/m/info or follow @coupeUcup & @axemenhockey on Twitter.

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6 different scorers lead Acadia to victory

WOLFVILLE, N.S – The USports No. 7 Acadia Axemen went out with a bang for their last game on home ice of the 2017-18 season, with a 6-1 blowout win over the No. 8 Saint Mary’s Huskies.

Even sweeter for the Axemen is the fact that the win guarantees them a spot in the 2018 U SPORTS University Cup in Fredericton, N.B. Axemen forward Sam Fioretti was named Subway First Star of the Night for a pair of terrific assists.

Although Saint Mary’s dominated the opening minutes of the first, Acadia controlled the rest of the period, taking a 4-0 lead into the second period.

Acadia opened the scoring just before the two-minute mark in the first, when forward Stephen Harper dropped the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle for Ryan Foss, who ripped a low wrist shot past the Huskies goalie Cole Cheveldave.

The second Axemen goal came from forward and third star of the night, Taylor Makin – his first goal of the post-season.

Makin took a cross-crease pass from Rodney Southam in front of the net and lifted it over the Saint Mary’s goalie for a 2-0 lead.

Sam Fioretti had a pair of beautiful assists in the first, exactly two minutes apart, setting up the third and fourth goals of the period, for Boston Leier and Kyle Farrell on the power-play.Read more »

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3rd & Deciding Game Goes Friday in Wolfville

(Halifax, N.S.) The Saint Mary’s Huskies picked up a 3-2 win over the Acadia Axemen in game two of their AUS consolation final series on Wednesday night at the Halifax Forum. The best of three series is now even at 1-1.

Anthony Repaci (Toronto, Ont.) picked up a pair and Aaron Berisha (Mississauga, Ont.) scored for SMU. Cole Cheveldave (Calgary, Alta.) made 21 saves in the win.

“I thought Chevy played outstanding,” said Huskies Head Coach Trevor Stienburg. “He held the fort, he moved the puck well for us and gave us a chance to get pucks out of our own end.”

Samuel Fioretti (Calgary, Alta.) and Kyle Farrell (Howie Corner, N.S.) scored for the Axemen.

Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, N.B.) finished with 21 saves.

Fioretti opened the scoring 9:19 into the first. Boston Leier (Saskatoon, Sask.) knocked a clearing attempt out of the air, Fioretti jumped on the puck just above the left circle and snapped it home low blocker through a screen in front from just above the dot.

Berisha tied it up just under two-minutes later. Berisha back to Dylan DiPerna (Nobleton, Ont.) who took a point shot that was tipped by Jake Coughler (St. Catherines, Ont.) and Berisha knocked the rebound in from in tight.

Repaci made it 2-1 at 17:18 of the first. Calder Brooks (Emerald Park, Sask.) held the puck in at the line and flipped a backhand on net, Repaci tipped it on the way through and it bounced in passed the left pad.Read more »

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Harper with a goal & 3 assists in Axemen win

WOLFVILLE, N.S – The AUS consolation series got off to an exciting start, as the USports No. 6 Acadia Axemen doubled up on the No. 7 Saint Mary’s Huskies for a final score of 6-3 on Monday night.

Axemen forward, and Subway First Star of the Night, Stephen Harper had a solid performance in his first home game since sustaining an injury in the first round of the playoffs, registering three assists and the game-winner.

Despite being even in shots, the Axemen dominated the first period, as they held a 3-1 lead heading into the second period.

The first goal of the game came when Axemen forward Stephen Harper curled in the on the right side of the offensive zone, protecting the puck.

As Harper went behind the Huskies net, he threw a backhand pass out to an open Remy Giftopoulos, who lifted the puck over the Saint Mary’s Eric Brassard for the 1-0 lead.

Acadia added to their lead roughly 30 seconds later, with a power-play marker from forward Sam Fioretti, who redirected a wrist shot from the point by defenseman Matthew Pufahl.

For their third goal, the Axemen got offence from first year forward Ryan Foss, who lobbed a wrist shot from against the left boards past the screened goalie into the far-right corner of the net.

Saint Mary’s responded eight seconds later, off the faceoff with a 2-on-1 rush, finished by forward Connor McGlynn, who lifted the puck over the blocker of the Robert Steeves to make it 3-1 heading into the second.Read more »

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Acadia to face Saint Mary’s in Consolation round

Antigonish, NS – The StFX X-Men have advanced to the Subway AUS championship series with a 6-5 victory over the Acadia Axemen Thursday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre in Game 5 of the AUS semifinals. The X-Men won the series 3-2 in front of a sell-out crowd of 1800 fans. 

The game started with a ceremonial puck drop from Olympic hockey silver medalist Blayre Turnbull, a native of Stellarton, NS, just 30 minutes up the road from StFX University. Blayre’s brother Brent is in his fourth season with the X-Men squad. 

In a game that looked to be over after 20 minutes of play as the X-Men scored five first period goals, the Axemen came storming back and nearly mounted a comeback victory. 

StFX opened the game with three quick goals within a two-minute span. Jagger Dirk (Penticton, BC) scored on the power play off a blast from just inside the middle of the blue line off a Kristoff Kontos (Pentanguishene, ON) pass 3:41 into the game.  

Adam Stevens (Bedford, NS) potted the second X goal at 5:04 after bringing the puck up through the neutral zone and then wristing a shot around the Acadia defense that beat netminder Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, NB) up high.  

Nathan Pancel (Ottawa, ON) scored a minute and a half later, as he took a pass in the slot from Regan Spears (Port Hood, NS) and roofed it into the Acadia net.  

The Axemen replaced goaltender Robert Steeves after the Pancel goal as four X-Men shots resulted in the three goals to open the first period. First-year netminder Dawson Carty (Burlington, ON) who hadn’t seen any game action yet in the series came in as the replacement. 

The X-Men got one past Carty four minutes later as Kontos, on the forecheck, stole the puck in the Axemen zone and broke in alone, scoring an unassisted marker to increase the StFX lead to 4-0. 

Read more »

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StFX scores late powerplay goal in 4-3 victory

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The USports No. 3 StFX X-Men managed to stay alive in the best-of-five series on Monday night in Wolfville, with a 4-3 win over the No. 7 Acadia Axemen to tie the series at 2-2.

AUS Most Valuable Player Chase Marchand deservedly received Subway First Star of the Night honours on the night for another strong performance to help his team win.

An evenly matched opening period between the two teams showed on the scoreboard, with the teams tied at 1-1 heading into the second.

The X-Men opened the scoring 5:56 into the first frame, on a goal by StFX defenseman Daniel Robertson, who came in off the blue-line and ripped a shot into the top right corner of the Axemen net.

Acadia evened the score late in the period, when defenseman Stephen Woodworth sent a cross-ice pass to forward Boston Leier who fired a low wrist shot past the screened Marchand.

By the end of the period, the X-Men led 11-10 in shots.

The second period mirrored the first. StFX capitalized on an untimely change by an Axemen defenseman due to an equipment issue, with StFX forward Matt Needham scoring on a scramble in front of the Acadia net to make it 2-1.Read more »