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.
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.
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 »
(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 »
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 »
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.
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 »
WOLFVILLE, N.S – It was a nail-biter on Sunday night in Wolfville, as the USports No. 7 Acadia Axemen took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series with a 1-0 win over the No. 3 StFX X-Men.
The game was dominated by the goaltenders, with Axemen goaltender Robert Steeves and X-Men goaltender Chase Marchand taking second and third stars of the night, respectively.
Neither team was able to score in the first period that saw the Axemen outshoot the X-Men 11-3.
The period saw no shortage of penalties, as the teams combined for 22 minutes in penalties, including a ruckus that broke out in front of the StFX net.
Acadia nearly scored when defenseman Geoff Schemitsch broke in on the right wing and slid a pass in front of the net that slid under the pad of the X-Men goalie, but stayed out of the net.
The Axemen broke the scoreless tie at 3:11 into the second for the only goal of the period, taking their 1-0 lead into the third.
Axemen forward, and Subway First Star of the Game, Michael Clarke came out in front of the X-Men net and lifted a backhand over the glove of the X-Men goaltender Chase Marchand to make it 1-0. The goal would be the eventual game-winner for the Axemen.Read more »
AXEMEN AFTER SCHOOL IP SPRING CAMP
EVERY MONDAY STARTING MARCH 26TH FOR 6 WEEKS
SESSIONS WILL FOCUS ON SKATING, SKILL DEVELOPMENT & STATION WORK
TIME: 4:15PM-5:15PM
COST: $75.00
MAX: 25 PLAYERS
TO REGISTER PLEASE EMAIL: kris.macdonald@acadiau.ca
AXEMEN AFTER SCHOOL SPRING CAMPS
THE AFTER-SCHOOL CAMP INCLUDES:
6 SESSIONS PLUS AN ADDITIONAL DEAN PEACH POWER SKATING SESSION.
GOALIES WILL RECEIVE GOALIE INSTRUCTION FROM AXEMEN GOALIE COACH CHARLES GRANT FOR 1 SESSION.
TUESDAY’S – NOVICE
MARCH 27TH, APRIL 3RD 10TH 17TH 24TH, MAY 1ST & 15TH
WEDNESDAY’S- ATOM
MARCH 28TH, APRIL 4TH 11TH 18TH 25TH, MAY 2ND & 16TH
THURSDAY’S- PEEWEE
MARCH 29TH, APRIL 5TH 12TH 19TH 26TH, MAY 3RD & 17TH
FRIDAY’S- BANTAM/MIDGET
MARCH 30TH, APRIL 6TH 13TH 20TH 27TH, MAY 4TH & 18TH
SESSIONS WILL FOCUS ON SKATING, SKILL DEVELOPMENT
& STATION WORK
TIME: 4:15PM-5:15PM
COST: $125.00
MAX: 25 PLAYERS per AGE GROUP
TO REGISTER PLEASE EMAIL: kris.macdonald@acadiau.ca
ANTIGONISH, NS – The StFX X-Men evened up the Subway AUS best-of-five semifinal series with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Acadia Axemen Friday night in front of over 1000 fans at the Charles V. Keating Centre.
All three X-Men goals came on special teams play as they had a pair of power play markers in the second period and a shorthanded goal in the third to seal up the Game 2 victory.
The teams remained scoreless after the first period of play as StFX held a slight 9-8 advantage in shots. Acadia was unable to connect on two power play opportunities in the opening period and StFX was 0-1 on the man-advantage.
Santino Centorame (Mississauga, ON) had the X-Men’s best scoring chance five minutes into the second period when he rang one of the Axemen’s goal post. StFX also had two power play opportunities early on in the period but were unable to capitalize.
They finally connected on the power play at 10:43 when Kristoff Kontos (Pentanguishene, ON) fed Jagger Dirk (Penticton, BC) the puck at the top of the face-off circle as he skated in and unleashed a shot that beat Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, NB) in the Axemen net. Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, NS) also assisted on the play.
The X-Men increased their lead to 2-0 off another power play goal late in the second period with only 33 seconds left in the frame. Bryson Cianfrone (Stoney Creek, ON) fed a cross-ice pass to Cole MacDonald (Wetaskawin, AB) who whipped a quick shot into the Acadia net. Centorame also picked up a helper on the play.