Posted on Posted in Game Recaps

Colella notches 2 points in loss

Photo by Rachel Drummond

ANTIGONISH, N.S. – The StFX X-Men outplayed the Acadia Axemen Wednesday evening at the Charles V. Keating Centre, besting the visitors 5-2 after an intense, physical game that saw a combined 74 minutes of penalties incurred. 

Freshman goaltender Blade Mann-Dixon, a native of local Antigonish, N.S. guided the X-Men to their first win of the season and the first of his AUS career, posting 25 saves and earning the game’s second star honour. 

StFX opened the scoring early, just 1:33 into play, when Subway player of the game and first star Bryson Cianfrone (Stoney Creek, ON)  found the back of the net after taking advantage of his position in the slot. StFX managed to hold the line and keep play in the Axemen zone, despite several failed clearing attempts. Assisting on Cianfrone’s snapshot goal was Matt Needham (Penticton, BC). 

The X-Men kept the momentum going, scoring six and a half minutes later. William Bower (Saint John, NB) passed the puck behind the net to Adam Laishram (Ashburn, ON) who took the initial shot on goal. Lane Cormier (Hopewell, NS) capitalized on the rebound bringing the score to 2-0. 

Acadia answered StFX’s goal at 11:52 with a shot that rang off the post behind Mann-Dixon. Michael Zipp (Edmonton, AB) took a shot from the slot that bounced off the post, Jackson Houck (Delta, BC) captured the rebound and scored off a backhanded shot. Third star of the evening Maurizio Colella (Tottenham, ON) was also credited with an assist on the goal.  

Read more »

Posted on Posted in Game Recaps

Axemen fall prey to the 3rd period penalty calls

The Acadia Axemen looked to bounce back from a tough 7-1 loss at the hands of the BU Terriers, as they faced the UMass Lowell River Hawks on Sunday afternoon. The Axemen came out with a strong effort, outplaying the home team for much of the game, but the River Hawks came from behind on the strength of a number of 3rd period powerplays to defeat the Axemen 4-3.

The River Hawks opened the scoring at 13:49 of the first period, on the powerplay, when Colin O’Neill scored from the slot, beating Axemen starting goalie Dawson Carty.

The Axemen answered back on the powerplay, when Jackson Houck ended up in alone on River Hawk netminder Tyler Wall and popped a shot to the top corner, blocker side on the New York Ranger drafted netminder, to square the game at 1 at 15:39 of the 1st period.

The home team took the lead back before the end of the period when Chris Schutz made it 2-1 at 17:53. UML had the 13-11 edge in shots in the opening frame.

Acadia tied the game back up at 7:49 of the 2nd period when Jack Flaman skated down the left wing and ripped a shot on the short side over the River Hawk goalie’s shoulder. The goal was the Axemen’s first even strength goal on the season. That was all the scoring in the 2nd period, Acadia played a very strong period, outshooting UML 12-6 in the period.Read more »

Posted on Posted in Game Recaps

DiGiacinto nets the lone Acadia goal

The Acadia Axemen faced off on Saturday night against the top ranked team in the ultra competitive ECAC conference of the NCAA’s Division 1, the Boston University Terriers. The outcome on the scoreboard was not what the Axemen had hoped, as they were downed 7-1 by the home team.

The Axemen’s night got off to a bad start early when a strange puck bounce fooled Axemen starting goaltender Logan Flodell to put BU up 1-0 just 1:56 in, despite Acadia being on the powerplay.

Just two minutes later, the Terriers struck again as defenceman Shane Switzer took a pass in the slot and beat the Axemen netminder to make it 2-0. The Axemen settled down after that goal and played a strong final 15 minutes of the opening period, but couldn’t beat the BU starter Jake Oettinger.

The Terriers put a stop to the Axemen’s momentum early in the 2nd period as they scored at 1:35 and then again at 2:34 to stretch the lead to 4-0. They tacked another on before the midway point of the period to make it a 5-0 game.

BU opened the 3rd period scoring just 41 seconds into the frame on another bad bounce for the Axemen as the puck went off the skate of an Acadia player, and into their own net; BU rounded out their scoring at 8:03 as Joel Farabee ripped home a top corner shot to make it 7-0 for the home team.

Read more »

Posted on Posted in Game Recaps

Harper scores the OT winner

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen (1-1) kicked off their home-opener with a nail-biting 2-1 win over the StFX X-Men (0-0-1) in overtime.

Despite chances on both sides – including one power-play for the X-Men and two for Acadia – neither team could put the puck in the net in the first period.

The opening period was full of animosity between the two teams. The referees were constantly pulling players apart after whistles throughout the first frame.

Shots on goal were 9-4 in favour of the Axemen after 1 period.

The Axemen began to pull away from StFX in the second period, as they continued to outshoot and overpower the X-Men.

Axemen forward Jackson Houck scored the first goal of his AUS career with 8:57 left in the second period. Houck scooped up the rebound in front of the StFX net to give the Axemen a 1-0 lead

The Axemen had several opportunities that were turned aside by X-Men goalie Chase Marchand, including a stellar sprawling glove save that prevented a sure goal.

With 7:26 remaining in the second, there was a considerable delay in game action due to a body check from Axemen forward Rodney Southam that broke the handle on the away team’s penalty box.

Following the delay, the X-Men seemed reinvigorated as StFX forward Adam Smith scored a power-play marker a mere 27 seconds after returning to the ice.

After yet another ice delay, the second period continued and ended in a 1-1 tie.

By the end of the second period, the shots were 23-11 for Acadia.

Read more »

Posted on Posted in Game Recaps

Ross MacDougall with lone Acadia marker

Photo by Trevor McMillan

(Halifax, NS) – In the opening matchup of the 2018-19 AUS hockey season, the Dalhousie Tigers hosted the Acadia Axemen at the Halifax Forum. 

The action started quickly in this one, as just over two minutes in the Tigers found themselves on a two-man advantage. The Tigers opened up the scoring after a shot from Colton Heffley (Swift Current, SK) caused a scramble in front that Jonathan Cyr (Ottawa, ON) was able to knock home as the first goal of the season.  

The goal took care of the first penalty, but the Tigers were still up a man for another minute. After gaining the zone, Aiden Jamieson (Lindsay, ON) made a nice play to hold the zone against two defenders. The puck made its way out to Cyr in the slot, who found spotted Heffley backdoor with a pass right on the tape to deflect home the second goal of the game and give the Tigers a commanding advantage early.  

After two quick goals, the rest of the period was quiet, going into the first break with the Tigers leading 2-0.  

It was another quick start to the period in the second, with the Tigers getting on the board once again. After a scramble down low, Reid Murphy (Stittsville, ON) made a beautiful pass to Jake Barter (Hammonds Plains, NS) moving in from the point. Barter’s initial shot was stopped by Logan Flodell, (Regina, SK) but Dillon Boucher (Head Chezzetcook, NS) provided the screen in front, and was there to hammer home the rebound to make it 3-0 for the Tigers.  

Read more »