Posted on Posted in Game Recaps

DiGiacinto scores a pair for Acadia

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen snap a five-game losing streak with a 5-0 win over the StFX X-Men on Friday night. Acadia was offensively dominant throughout the game, getting nearly three times more shots on net than the X-Men.

Axemen goaltender Logan Flodell recorded a shutout on the night, turning aside all 21 shots he faced.

Acadia dominated play in the first period and they were rewarded for their effort just after the halfway point of the opening frame.

Axemen forward Maurizio Colella, who corralled the puck on a pass from Owen MacDonald, took a step back and fired a slap shot past the X-Men goalie Chase Marchand, to make it 1-0.

The Axemen doubled up their lead after rookie forward Jordy Stallard who was named the third star of the night, scored the first goal of his USPORTS career after being sprung on a breakaway to make it 2-0.

By the end of the first period, the shots were 20-5 for the Axemen.

The Axemen added to their lead in the second, as forward and Subway First Star of the Night Cristiano DiGiacinto added a pair to make it 4-0.Read more »

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Houck & Farrell with goals for Acadia

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen (5-14-2) lost their fifth straight game following a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the second place Saint Mary’s Huskies (14-7-1).

“Every team goes through struggles. Just keep working hard and we’ll work through it and the guys will find their way,” noted Axeman Kyle Farrell following the game.

Although the Axemen led in shots and came close to tying the game in the third, they never held a lead during the game.

The Axemen dominated play for the majority of the opening period, but Saint Mary’s left the ice with a 1-0 lead after the first.

The Huskies gained their lead when forward Hunter Garlent and Subway First Star of the Night, chipped the puck around the defenceman and lifted the puck over the left shoulder of the Axemen goalie to make it 1-0.

Following a first period shut-out against Moncton last night, this marked four straight scoreless period for Acadia.

By the end of the first period, the shots were 12-9 for the Axemen.

Saint Mary’s added to their lead early in the second when forward Jake Coughler stepped into the slot and fired a wrist shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net to make it 2-0.

Acadia finally got on the scoreboard with 14:23 remaining to play in the second thanks to Stephen Harper and Kyle Farrell.Read more »

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Flodell turns aside 22 of 24 shots in loss

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia started off 2019 at home with a loss, as the Moncton Aigles Bleus shutout the Axemen 2-0 on Friday night in Wolfville. With their fourth consecutive loss, the Axemen remain tied for last place in their division with the Dalhousie Tigers, who also lost on Friday night.

The Axemen dominated play throughout the first period but they were unable to find the back of the net.

Likewise, Moncton could not crack the Acadia goaltender, despite a few solid chances, including a partial breakaway while shorthanded near the midpoint of the period.

By the end of the first period, the shots were 12-4 for Acadia.

Moncton responded with a dominant second period and they broke the scoreless tie with 3:03 remaining in the second period on a goal from forward Maxime St-Cyr.

Cyr was waiting unattended at the side of the Axemen net and buried a cross-crease pass to make it 1-0.

The Aigles Bleus could have added another goal or two in the frame were it not for Axemen goalie Logan Flodell, who made several brilliant saves in the second.

Flodell made a series of incredible diving saves on a 5-on-3 penalty kill that garnered a substantial amount of applause from the home crowd.

Despite amazing play from Flodell, the Axemen were unable to help their goaltender with any offence in the second, as Moncton took the 1-0 lead into the third.

By the end of the second period, the shots were 24-21 for Acadia.Read more »

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Foss with two goals and an assist

FREDERICTON, NB – The UNB Reds scored twice in the third period and held off the Acadia Axemen 4-3 on Saturday.

A goal by Oliver Cooper (Fredericton, NB), at 11:19 of the final period, stood as the winner. 

The visitors opened the scoring at 15:02 of the first period when Ryan Foss (Oakville, ON) capitalized on a turnover beside the UNB net. He beat Reds netminder Rylan Parenteau (Saskatoon, SK) high on the short side for a 1-0 Acadia lead. 

Acadia had a chance to extend their lead when they were awarded a penalty shot about a minute later, but Parenteau stopped Axemen newcomer Jordy  Stallard (Brandon, MB). 

The Reds got on the board early in the second period. 

At 2:07, Anderson took a pass in the slot and lifted a backhand past Dawson Carty (Burlington, ON) to tie the score 1-1. 

Just 1:11 later, and with the Reds working on the power-play, Cam Brace (Etobicoke, ON) fired a one-timer past Carty to give UNB a 2-1 lead. 

At 5:27 of the third period, Foss scored his second of the game to pull Acadia even at 2-2. 

A short time later, the Axemen found themselves with almost two full minutes of 5-on-3 power-play. 

Read more »

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Farrell with lone Acadia goal

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – The UPEI Panthers renewed their rivalry with the Acadia Axemen on Friday night and in the middle of all the action was Kameron Kielly, who recorded a goal and an assist in a hard-fought 2-1 win.

UPEI got off to a slow start, but picked up the pace late in the first period and challenged Logan Flodell, who got the nod in net for the visiting Axemen. With five minutes remaining, Flodell denied an odd-man rush with a sliding save to keep the game scoreless. 

Two minutes later, Jordy Stallard’s shot from an unlikely angle trickled through Simon Hofley’s skates and through the crease where Kyle Farrell tapped in the opening goal for the Axemen. That was Hofley’s lone blemish, as he made 33 saves on the night. 

Flodell continued his stellar play in the final minutes of the period, when he made a series of big saves from close range to help his team maintain the 1-0 advantage after 20 minutes. 

Read more »

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1st Half Experience & Added Depth Key for Acadia

The Acadia Axemen hit the ice to start the second half of their AUS men’s hockey season on Friday night on the road in PEI, as they face the UPEI Panthers, and then again on Saturday night in Fredericton against the UNB Reds. Not an easy start for the Axemen who will look to improve on a tough first half, that saw a young team, with 12 new players, go through some growing pains. A 5-10-2 record, good for 6th in the conference, with a 5-3 record on home ice, meant an 0-7-2 record on the road. Something the Axemen need to improve on to climb the AUS standings.

The Axemen came in to the season leaving 2 roster spots open, and with injuries and suspensions in the first half, it definitely spread the team thin at times. 1st year forward Cole Reginato saw action in just 5 games due to an early season injury, assistant captain Alex Lepkowski missed 7 games due to suspension and injury. 2nd year Axemen Michael Zipp & Cristiano Digiacinto missed 4 games a piece, while first year forward Johnny Corneil was out for two games.

The decision to hold those roster spots open looks to have paid off for the Axemen however, as they have added former WHL sniper Jordy Stallard, and stalwart defenceman Tate Olsen, who also played in the WHL. Both players spent the first half of the season playing in the ECHL; both players are NHL draft picks as Stallard was drafted in the 5th round in 2016 by the Winnipeg Jets, and Olsen in the 7th round in 2015 by the Vancouver Canucks.

Acadia Head Coach Darren Burns expressed excitement heading into January saying, “We are very excited to get started with the second half. The intensity of AUS hockey ramps up in the second half of the season and that is something we need to be prepared for. There’s no question the first half was a huge learning experience for our team and the second half will be even tougher. We were extremely fortunate to add two strong players which will help. There’s no place to hide in our conference and commitment and execution will be critical if we are going to succeed.”Read more »

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Acadia bolsters lineup for 2nd half run

The Acadia Axemen have made a big splash in AUS men’s hockey news by adding two key pieces to their lineup for the second half of the Usports hockey season; adding defenseman Tate Olson, and forward Jordy Stallard.

Veteran head coach of the Acadia program, Darren Burns welcomed the new recruits, “We are extremely excited to be able to add these two impact players to our program. With the large turnover in players from last year, this was a huge recruiting year. We left two roster spots open in the 1st half as it was important that we were adding the right people on and off the ice. We knew we were going to experience some growing pains being an extremely young team. We left these spots open to make sure we could add impact to our line up and we are very confident we have done that. We are probably the youngest team in USports, but we feel we have an extremely committed group, and this is going to pay dividends.”

Jordy Stallard is a 5th round NHL draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 2016. The 6’2” centreman, from Brandon, Manitoba, will give the Axemen another elite scoring threat. After 2 ½ years with the Calgary Hitmen, Jordy played a year and a half with the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL. In 2017-18, he racked up 91 points in just 72 games, including 44 goals, good for 14th in league scoring in the competitive Western Hockey League. This season, Stallard has played with the Allen Americans and Indy Fuel of the ECHL, adding 4 points in 19 games.

“Jordy is a proven scorer in the WHL and he has good size. He is a high character player who no doubt can help us offensively. His assets will help us five on five and on the powerplay as well. It’s no secret that we weren’t the most offensive team in the 1st half. We think he can help our program immediately,” said the Axemen Head Coach.Read more »

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Morrison scores his 1st as an Axemen

WOLFVILLE, N.S – The Acadia Axemen (5-10-2) closed out the first half of their season on a sour note with a loss to the U SPORTS No. 1 ranked and conference best UNB Reds (15-0-3) who won by a decisive 5-1 score.

“I thought we played pretty good except for that stretch (three goals in the opening 4 minutes of the second period) of time and we made a few errors compounded by the fact that we only had 18 skaters. But, we should have been executing better than that and we’ve been through it enough but sometimes you just make mistakes,” noted assistant coach Mike Alcoe following the game.

UNB opened the scoring early in the first, on a goal from forward Matthew Boucher.

Boucher took a pass in front of the net and fired the puck five-hole to make it 1-0.

The closest Acadia came to scoring occurred near the end of the opening period when the puck appeared to go in during a mad scramble in front of the net, but the referees were adamant that the puck did not cross the line.

With a shots on goal advantage of 9-7 for UNB, the Reds added to their lead early in the second, with two goals from Chris Clapperton and Subway First Star of the Night, Alexandre Goulet.

Clapperton scored on a wrist shot in tight to make it 2-0, while Goulet scored less than a minute later when he rifled a backhand into the top left corner of the net to make it 3-0.

Acadia pulled goaltender Logan Flodell and replaced him with Dawson Carty after the two quick goals that opened the second frame.

UNB did not let up, as forward Kris Bennett added a short-handed goal to make it 4-0.

Acadia finally answered back before the midway point of the second, on a goal from rookie defenseman Loch Morrison.Read more »

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5 separate goal scorers power Axemen to victory

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen (5-9-2) snapped their three-game losing skid, and the three-game winning streak of the UPEI Panthers (8-6-1) at the same time with a 5-2 win on Friday night in Wolfville. Acadia won a gritty game that saw the teams combine for 102 penalty minutes.

Despite chances on both sides, it was not until late in the first when Acadia opened the scoring on a goal from forward, and Subway First Star of the Night, Jackson Houck.

Houck picked off a pass from a defender in the UPEI zone and deked out the goalie before sliding it into the net to make it 1-0.

By the end of the first period, the shots were 12-7 for Acadia.

The Panthers responded early in the second with a marker from forward Brent Andrews, who buried a cross-ice pass into the wide-open net to make it 1-1.

Acadia responded quickly with a power-play marker from forward Kyle Farrell.

Farrell took a pass from Houck and lifted the puck over the blocker of the Panthers goaltender in tight to make it 2-1.

Shortly after retaking the lead, Axemen forward Jack McClelland was awarded a penalty shot, which was the first on home ice this season.

Read more »

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Harper with the lone Acadia marker

FREDERICTON, NB – The UNB Reds scored four power-play goals on route to a 6-1 win over the Acadia Axemen on Saturday. 

Chris Clapperton (Cap d’Espoir, QC) and Tyler Boland (St. John’s, NL) each scored twice for the Reds, while Kris Bennett (Brampton, ON), and Joe Gatenby (Kelowna, BC) each had three assists. 

Matthew Boucher (Los Angeles, Calif.) had a goal and an assist for UNB, while Samuel Dove-McFalls (Montreal, QC) also scored. 

Acadia actually struck first, when Stephen Harper (Burlington, ON) scored, on the power-play, at 5:42 of the first period. 

Kyle Farrell (Howie Centre, NS) won a face-off right back to Harper, who’s shot eluded Reds netminder Alex Dubeau (Mascouche, QC). 

UNB countered with their first power-play goal about two-and-a-half minutes later. 

Boucher’s shot from the face-off circle was kicked out by Axemen netminder Dawson Carty (Burlington, ON) but Dove-McFalls was right there to fire the rebound home. 

That goal sent almost 1300 stuffed animals flying onto the Aitken Centre ice and brought the game to a temporary halt. 

It was the Reds 3rd annual Teddy Bear Toss. 

1295 stuffed animals were collected and will be distributed by the Salvation Army to less fortunate children during the upcoming holiday season. 

Read more »