Harper with a goal in the 5-1 loss

By Thomas Becker of UPEI

There was a power surge at MacLauchlan Arena Friday night, as the Panthers put up five goals in the second period to overpower the Acadia Axemen 5-1.

Marcus Power was in the forefront of all the action, posting a hat trick in the decisive frame. Riley Whittingham and Cody Payne were the other two skaters to hit the back of the net, while Ryan MacKinnon and Darcy Ashley recorded two assists each.

“It’s great seeing all the hard work we put in this week paying off like that,” said Power, who was named Subway Player of the Game.

With only their second win in their last 10 games, Panthers head coach Forbes MacPherson was pleased with the way his team fought against a tough Acadia (15-6-2) squad. And with only a handful of weeks remaining in the season and a pair of teams chasing them for the final two playoff spots, he’s anxious to see how they’ll respond when they hit the ice again on Saturday and beyond.

“We have to find some consistency,” he said. “Some guys played some of their best hockey in awhile tonight, so that tells me two things – how well they can play, but how inconsistent they’ve been.” Read more »

Axemen score 5 powerplay goals in victory

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U SPORTS No. 6 ranked Acadia Axemen (14-5-2) were on fire downed the visiting No. 7 Saint Mary’s Huskies (15-6-1) by a score of 6-2 in front of a near capacity crowd of 2060.

Of the eight goals scored on the night, six came on the power-play, with the Axemen going 5-for-7 on the man-advantage for the night.

The Axemen jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, despite fairly even play between the two teams for the majority of the period.

Acadia broke the scoreless tie with 6:16 remaining in the first frame, when forward Boston Leier redirected the point shot by Subway First Star of the Game, Matthew Pufahl into the top left corner of the net to make it 1-0.

The Axemen followed the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, scoring on a nearly identical play, this time forward Sam Fioretti tipped the puck under the legs of the Huskie goaltender Cole Cheveldave to make it 2-0.Read more »

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Harper with 4 assists in Axemen win

Wolfville, N.S – Neither the icy aftermath of a winter storm or the prospect of seeing the entirety of Canada versus Sweden game stopped the Axemen faithful from coming to Wolfville on Friday night. Those who came for the game were not disappointed as the Acadia Axemen (12-5-2) won a back-and-forth game, 7-4 against the Moncton Aigles Bleu (3-15-2).

The Axemen dominated play for most of the opening period, leading 17-6 in shots and taking a 2-1 lead into the second.

Axemen forward Owen MacDonald fed a tight saucer pass across the ice to the third star of the night, Remy Giftopoulos who lifted the puck into the top right corner of the net to make it 1-0.

Exactly 41 seconds later, the Axemen doubled their lead when Subway First Star of the Game, Kyle Farrell took a lead pass from Giftopoulos and ripped a slap shot between the legs of the Moncton goalie to make it 2-0.

The Axemen ran into penalty trouble late in the period, as Aigles Bleu defenseman Jean-Francois Plante scored on a wrist shot in front of the Axemen net to cut the Acadia lead to 2-1.

Moncton and Acadia trading goals in the second period, with the Axemen holding a 5-4 lead heading into the final frame.

Moncton scored two more goals on the man-advantage in the second, with one coming from Joey Richard in tight and the other coming off a point shot from Plante for his second of the game.Read more »

Leier & Farrell tally for Axemen in loss

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U SPORTS No. 7 ranked Acadia Axemen (11-5-2) ended the first half of their season on a sour note, losing 3-2 in OT to the No. 2 UNB Varsity Reds (15-0-3).

Acadia held the lead twice in the game, but the league’s best V-Reds answered back each time.

The Axemen head into the holiday break with fourth place in the AUS standings.

The first period was dominated by the Axemen, as they outshot UNB 12-7 and took a 1-0 lead into the second frame.

Axemen forward Boston Leier scored at 6:07 in the opening period when he picked up the puck off the back boards and fired it past UNB’s goalie Alex Dubeau to ignite the home crowd.

Near the end of the first, a fight broke out in front of the UNB net and saw Dubeau receive a rare roughing penalty.

UNB responded with a strong second period, where they dominated most of the play and outscored the Axemen 2-1 in the period to tie the game 2-2 heading into the final frame.

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Three first period goals power Acadia to victory

WOLFVILLE, N.S – Following two weeks on the road that saw Acadia go 2-2, the U SPORTS No. 7 ranked Axemen (11-5-1) defeated the UPEI Panthers (4-12-1) 6-3 in the first of two home games this weekend before the Christmas break. Axemen forward and Subway First Star of the Game Boston Leier scored two goals on the night to help the Axemen secure the win.

Acadia was strong offensively in the first and held a 3-0 lead heading into the second period.

Axemen forward and Third Star of the Game, Chance Braid, opened the scoring, lifting the puck past the left shoulder of the Panthers’ goalie Matt Mahalak, knocking the water bottle off the top of the net in the process.

Adding to their lead, Axemen forward Boston Leier scored a power-play marker late in the period.

Leier took a pass from Stephen Harper while coming over the blue-line and ripped a wrist shot over the glove of the Mahalak to make it 2-0.

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Harper & Leier both with a goal & 2 assists

The Acadia Axemen (9-4-1) fended off a first period push from UdeM Aigles Blues (1-10-2) on Friday night in Moncton, before putting up 9 goals, to defeat the Aigles Bleus 9-1. In a rematch from a week ago in Wolfville, that saw Acadia win 6-1, the Aigles Bleus came out in the first period looking for redemption in front of their home town crowd. UdeM had numerous grade A scoring chances, including 12 shots in the opening period, but Acadia netminder Robert Steeves was up to the challenge, keeping the game scoreless.

That was until Axemen Remy Giftopoulos picked up a miscued clearing pass from a UdeM defender and went in all alone on Moncton starting goalie Alexi Thibaudeau, going forehand to backhand before sliding the puck past the UdeM goalie, for his 4th goal on the season, to give Acadia a 1-0 lead at 14:33. That lead held up for the remainder of the frame.

The Axemen opened up a four goal lead after the second period as the Axemen put three more behind Thibaudeau. At 3:16 of the period, Kris Hodge deflected a point shot from Liam Maaskant to make it 2-0, the goal was Hodge’s 2nd of the year. Then at 9:35, Boston Leier broke in over the blueline on a 2 on 1 with Kyle Farrell, Leier blasted a shot that ended up going off the end boards and onto the stick of his teammate. Farrell made no mistake making it 3-0 with his 9th goal of the season.

The Axemen capped off their second period scoring at 13:19 when first year forward Ryan Foss found a rebound behind the UdeM netminder on a shot from the blueline from Michael Zipp and tapped the puck home for a 4-0 lead after 2. That ended Moncton netminder Alexi Thibeaudeau’s night, as he was replaced to start the third period with Brandon Thibeau.

The Axemen turned up the heat on UdeM in the third period, scoring early and often. At 3:58 of the period, while on the powerplay, the Axemen passed the puck around masterfully as Stephen Harper parked at the top of the circle found Kyle Farrell on the opposite side of the ice, who then slide the puck back to the other side of the ice to Boston Leier who was parked at the side of the Moncton net. Leier one timed the pass home to make it 5-0, his 8th goal of the season.Read more »