Stallard with 4 points in Acadia win

WOLFVILLE N.S. – The Acadia Axemen closed out the opening weekend of AUS regular season play with a statement 6-4 win against the reigning U SPORTS Champions, the UNB Reds.

Saturday night’s match-up between the UNB Reds and the Acadia Axemen began with one of the quieter periods of hockey this year at the Andrew H. McCain Arena. Neither team found the back of the net as both Acadia goalie Logan Flodell and UNB goalie Samuel Harvey were rock solid between the pipes, making 11 saves each.

UNB opened the scoring, just under five minutes into the second frame. Tristan Pomerleau circled from the Acadia blueline and darted down the left-wing boards, before driving the net and finishing off his own rebound through the five-hole of goalie Logan Flodell. The goal was assisted by Stephen Anderson and Patrick Watling.

Axemen Captain Liam Maskaant responded with his first goal of the season after a 3 on 2 rush concluded with Maskaant’s wrister being deflected into the top corner over the UNB goaltender’s glove. Eric Henderson and Jordy Stallard grabbed assists on the play.

Just 19 seconds later, forward Jack Flaman gave Acadia the lead beating Samuel Harvey with a wicked wrist shot following a play made by teammate Ross MacDougall. The goal was Flaman’s first of the regular season.

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Corneil with goal & assist for Acadia

WOLFVILLE N.S. – The Acadia Axemen were handed their first loss of the regular season at their home opener on Friday night, as the visiting Moncton Aigles Bleus defeated them by a score of 5-2.

The Axemen were the first team on the board, a little over halfway through the first frame. Forward Johnny Corneil snatched the puck from the Moncton defenceman at the Acadia blue line and bolted up the ice eventually deking out the Moncton goalie, sliding home his first goal of the season.

Les Aigles Bleus responded with just 2:34 left in the first when Wilson Forest ripped a perfect slapshot from the point that beat Acadia goalie Dawson Carty over his shoulder. The powerplay goal was assisted by Maxime St-Cyr and Robbie Graham.

The two teams went to the dressing room following the first period tied up at 1.

Moncton was first to score in the second, just 1:38 into the period. Forward Joey Richard received a pass on the left-wing and wristed a shot through the Acadia defenceman beating Carty to the short-side. Maxime St-Cyr tallied his second assist of the night and Danick Crete also assisted on the goal.

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Recruit to join Axemen in 2020-21

Photo courtesy of Eric Wynne & Chronicle Herald

The Axemen aren’t waiting until the offseason to get commitments from future recruits. Tyler Hinam, who was a QMJHL and CHL Memorial Cup Champion last season with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, has announced he will join the Acadia Axemen starting in the 2020-21 season.

The Cole Harbour native, has spent his entire junior career with the Huskies, after playing two years of major midget with the Halifax Macs. Through his first 3 seasons in the QMJHL, Hinam scored 97 points in 182 regular season games, and he is off to a strong start this season with 5 points in just 2 regular season games. The 6’1 right winger will add strength, skill and intensity to the Axemen lineup.

Hinam was excited with finalizing his decision to join the Axemen saying, “I chose Acadia for a number of reasons. I really wanted to play closer to home after being away for the past 4 years, they have a great hockey program, it’s a great school academically, and it has that small school environment. All those reasons made choosing Acadia a really easy decision.”

Perhaps also aiding in his decision to choose the Axemen, Tyler’s father, Mark, is an Acadia University alumnus.

Acadia Axemen head coach Darren Burns said this on announcing Hinam’s commitment, “We are extremely excited to be able to add Tyler to our team for next season; he is a proven winner with a tremendous attitude and work ethic. His leadership abilities will make him a great addition to our team; his passion and mind for the game are second to none.”

When asked what he would bring to the Acadia lineup next season, Tyler added, “I think I’ll be able to bring a hard, physical, 2-way game and try to chip-in offensively when I can.”

To view Tyler’s full statistics, click here.

The Acadia Axemen kick off the AUS regular season this Friday at 7pm, as they host the U de M Aigles Bleus at the Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville.

Southam scores twice for Acadia

WOLFVILLE N.S. – The Acadia Axemen’s preseason winning run came to an end after an overtime thriller on Saturday night against McGill University.

Hockey fans at the Andrew H. McCain Arena were once again treated to a whirlwind of a first period, and they certainly did not have long to wait for the first celebrations.

Just ten seconds into the game Axemen forward Cristiano Digiacinto redirected a Liam Maaskant point shot past the goalie for the first goal of the game. Stephen Harper was credited with the second assist.

At 4:31 into the period McGill’s Antoine Dufort-Plante struck on the power play after ripping one from the top of the circles over goaltender Dawson Carty’s right shoulder. Assists went to Nikolas Brouillard and Christophe Lalonde.

Just a few minutes later Rodney Southam tallied his own powerplay goal after tapping in a cross-crease pass from Ryan Foss at the 7:48 mark. Garrett McFadden was the second assist on the play.

With a little over three quarters gone in the frame, Phil Gilmour evened the score for McGill after a shot from the corner somehow found its way into the back of the Acadia net. Harlan Orr and Nathanael Halbert assisted.

An even 2-2 score is where the period concluded.

It took just 1:49 of second-period action for the next goal to be scored, as Ryan Penny was able to bury a Michael Cramarossa pass on a 2 on 1 rush to give McGill its first lead of the game.

Michael Campoli recorded his first point of the night with the other assist on the goal.

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Flaman nets two in Acadia win

WOLFVILLE N.S. – The Acadia Axemen continued their preseason winning ways on Friday night with a high scoring win against the visiting Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus.

The first period was an action-packed 20 minutes, with both teams firing on all cylinders straight from the drop of the puck.

The Axemen opened the scoring with two quick goals in the first five minutes of action.

Garrett McFadden batted in the rebound of teammate Michael Zipp’s shot for his first of the year only 2:48 into the game. Jack McClelland had the second assist.

Only 32 seconds after the first goal, Axemen forward Stephen Harper tapped in a perfect feed from defenceman Alexander Lepkowski to tally his second goal in as many games.

The scoring for the period was just getting started.

Moncton got on the board at 7:06 into the period when captain Vincent Deslauriers pickpocketed an Acadia defenceman before heading towards goal and beating Acadia goalie Dawson Carty with a perfect shot to the far-side high glove.

With 7:48 remaining in the first, Axeman forward Cristiano Digiacinto snapped one from the offensive zone faceoff dot into the short-side top corner past goalie Alexi Thibaudeau.

A hectic scrum in front of the Acadia goal led to Moncton forward Edouard Michaud finally tucking home the loose puck from Robbie Graham’s shot with a little over 5 minutes left in the first frame.

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Harper notches OT winner

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The host of the 2020 University Cup started in the right direction and took their first step forward with an exhibition overtime win against the visiting Dalhousie Tigers.

The Acadia Axemen’s bench for the 2019-2020 season had only two new faces including rookies Eric Henderson and Morgan Nauss and it was Henderson that recorded his first goal of his U SPORTS career.

Henderson was the recipient of a beautiful pass across the crease from Owen MacDonald that Henderson easily tapped in for the Axemen’s first and only goal until the overtime period.

The Tigers responded with 2:56 off the clock in the final frame when Andrew Shewfelt hammered home a rebound after teammate Jack Hanley’s shot on Dawson Carty in close.

The Tigers out-shot the Axemen 27-19 in regulation time and were 0-8 on the powerplay.

Forced into overtime after remaining tied at one after regulation time, Acadia’s Stephen Harper ended the three-on-three overtime period with a shot high on the glove hand of Tiger goaltender Connor Hicks to give the Axemen the win.

The Axemen host Moncton on Friday followed by their third and last exhibition game against the visiting McGill Redmen on Sunday.

The Tigers fall to 0-2 in exhibition play after losses to Saint Mary’s and the Axemen tonight. Dalhousie opens the AUS regular season next Wednesday night in Antigonish against the StFX X-Men.

Axemen look to Analytics for Added Edge

Brett Dickie working this week with the Axemen off-ice, on the on-ice analytics

The Acadia Axemen are hard at work on the ice, preparing for the upcoming 2019-2020 AUS campaign; a season that will see the team host the USports National Championship in March, in Halifax. But the hockey program isn’t just relying on physical and mental readiness this season, they are also looking at analytics as a potential added edge, in the ultra competitive AUS conference.

The team will be tracking various statistics and events that take place within the game, which will directly result in post game reports that will be discussed among the coaching staff. While the data will be looked at on a team basis, the main objective is on player development and giving the players an added piece of information to work with, on the ice.

Acadia will be working closely on the analytics this season with Brett Dickie. Brett has helped out with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s last season while working on his Masters of Sports Management at uOttawa. In addition, he worked with Kinduct, a sports analytics company, in Halifax this past summer.

Dickie says of his work, “Obviously in today’s game, if you’re not conducting some sort of advanced statistics or looking at additional information in any capacity, then you probably have some catching up to do. I’m very excited to work with the coaching staff and how we can incorporate data and analytics towards the everyday decision-making process, both on a team and individual level.”

Acadia Axemen head coach Darren Burns is excited about the additional information from the analytics, saying, “We are very excited to add Brett to our staff. He has worked very hard in his studies of analytics. There is no question his passion for the game will be a huge help this year and ensuring we are exhausting every avenue of helping our players improve and our team get better.“

Acadia takes the ice for their first pre-season game on Tuesday, September 17th in Wolfville as they face the Dalhousie Tigers at 7pm at the Andrew H. McCain Arena.

Attention Family Members of our Acadia Axemen Hockey Team! Each year we have the pleasure of welcoming our family and friends of our Acadia Hockey Axemen to Acadia!
 
Our Acadia Axemen Players Family Appreciation Weekend is scheduled for September 27-28, 2019 at Acadia University. The team has two home games that weekend: one against Moncton and another against UNB. Should be a great weekend of hockey.
 
We will kick off the weekend with a reception on Friday evening prior to the 7:00 pm game. We will send out further information on the event but wanted to get the dates in calendars for those who can make it.

Offensive Prowess, Grit & Leadership

The Acadia Axemen will be hosting the USports men’s hockey University Cup this March in Halifax, and their lineup received a major bolster with the news of the return of defenceman Liam Maaskant and forward Stephen Harper.

Both players graduated this past April, but will be returning to Acadia University in September, looking to complete some unfinished business, in their quest to take home the University Cup this spring.

Harper, who played his junior career in the OHL has been an offensive force in his 3 years with the Axemen, scoring 101 points in 86 games, plus 16 points in 16 AUS/USports playoff games. The Hamilton Ontario native led the AUS in scoring in 2017-18 with 46 points in 30 games. Stephen was named to the AUS All-Rookie Team in 2016-17, and was named AUS First Team All-Star & 2nd Team U Sports All Canadian in 2017-18.

Harper’s final status with Acadia for the upcoming season will depend on the results of attending the Buffalo Sabres camp in September.

Coach Darren Burns shared the team’s excitement saying, “We are very excited about Stephen’s decision to return to Acadia. He is a premier player in USports hockey and obviously he will play a key part in a national championship year for us. We feel he will be an excellent leader on and off the ice. He is returning to the Buffalo Sabres camp in September and we know this will be pivotal step in earning a pro contract.”

Meanwhile, Maaskant, who also played in the OHL through junior, and served as the Axemen captain last season, will return and likely where the ‘C’ again this upcoming season. In 104 career regular season USports games over his 4 years with the Axemen, Liam notched 26 points while posting 362 penalty minutes, and 3 playoff points in 21 AUS/USports playoff games. Maaskant will anchor the defensive corps once again for the Axemen; the 6’4 215lbs blueliner is know for making the other team keep their head on a swivel through the neutral zone or pay the price on the receiving end of a thunderous body check.

On Maaskant’s return, Coach Burns added, “We are very excited to have Liam returning this year. He is an incredible leader here at Acadia, and his leadership will be crucial this season. He has gotten better every season he has played at Acadia and is an outstanding shut down defender who is one of the toughest players to play against in our league. There is no question, we need what he brings to the rink everyday in our lineup.”

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