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. 

Special teams the difference for StFX in Game 2

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. 

ANTIGONISH, NS – In a battle of U SPORTS ranked teams, the No. 3 StFX X-Men fell 4-2 to the No. 7 Acadia Axemen Thursday evening in front of over 800 hometown fans as the Axemen earned a key victory on the road in Game 1 of the Subway AUS semifinal best-of-five series at the Charles V. Keating Centre. 

All indications are that the two teams are in for a close, hard-fought semifinal series. The puck hadn’t even dropped on Game 1 as players from both teams exchanged words and minor scuffles at the start of warm-up.   

Freshman X-Men defenseman Santino Centorame (Mississauga, ON) opened the scoring in the game with a power play marker at 2:47 off a shot from the point that looked to have deflected past netminder Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, NB) off one of his own defenseman. Michael Clarke (London, ON) and Kristoff Kontos (Pentanguishene, ON) had the helpers on the play for the X-Men. 

The Axemen nearly tied it up minutes later as Kyle Farrell (Howie Corner, NS) streaked in alone on the X net but was stopped by AUS most valuable player Chase Marchand (Halifax, NS). 

The visitors did tie it up at the 7:49 mark when Sam Fiorertti (Calgary, AB) shoveled in a rebound past Marchand after the initial save was made on a Liam Maaskant (Clinton, ON) shot. AUS second team all-star Boston Leier (Saskatoon, SK) also assisted on the play. 

The score remained tied at 1-1 at the conclusion of the first period, despite an X-Men power play late in the frame that generated several shots on net, but Steeves held his ground in the Axemen net. 

Shots favored the X-Men 12-10 in the opening period. 

HALIFAX, N.S. – In game two of the best of three playoff series, the Dalhousie Tigers faced elimination at home against the Acadia Axemen. Despite getting outplayed in the first two periods, the Axemen put together a tremendous final frame with 4 unanswered goals to claim the 4-2 win, and 2-0 series victory. 

In a hard hitting, physical start to the game, the Axemen tested Corbin Boes (Saskatoon, SK) with lots of shots early, but no threatening chances. 

The Tigers looked fantastic on the penalty kill early, only giving up three shots on two opportunities. Penalties were becoming an issue for the Tigers however, spending six of the first twelve minutes of the game a man short.  

With five minutes to go in the period, Tigers got their first power play opportunity, and made it count. After a scrum along the boards, Miles McGurty (Hoboken, NJ) sent a beautiful no-look pass across the slot to Jackson Playfair (Fort St. James, BC) that had Robert Steeves (St. Joseph-de-Kent, NB) going the wrong way. Playfair sent a pass in front and Alex Pawelczyk (Sterling Heights, MI) had a wide open net for the tap-in to open up the scoring for the Tigers.  

After a last minute flurry of shots from the Axemen, the score remained 1-0 for the Tigers heading into the first intermission.