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Thompson with 3 pts, Steeves 32 saves in win

Wolfville, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen snapped a three-game losing streak in the playoffs, beating the Saint Mary’s Huskies 5-1 on Monday night in Wolfville. Acadia now holds a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three consolation series. The winner of the consolation series will be the third of three AUS teams to qualify for the U SPORTS championship hosted by UNB.

Prior to the game, Axemen forward Brandon Childerley (Stratford, Ont.) received a standing ovation from the Wolfville crowd after coming out for a ceremonious puck drop. Childerley is currently out of the line-up following health complications from a game on Feb. 23.

Axemen forward Chance Braid (Wainwright, Alta.) scored the game-winner, with 7:14 left to play in the second.

Braid was in the slot, and fired a one-timer, off a pass from Remy Giftopoulos (Ancaster, Ont.), and buried it in the top right corner of the net, to give the Axemen a 2-1 lead and the eventual win.

Following a period of solid chances from both sides, Acadia opened the scoring late in the first period, with a goal from forward, Brett Thompson (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.).Read more »

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Game 1 goes Monday in Wolfville

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Axemen hockey team will have a second chance to get to the U SPORTS National Championship hosted by UNB. They may not be vying for the AUS championship, but the National Championships will have two AUS teams along with host UNB. UNB will be taking on StFX in the best of three AUS champoinship, while the Axemen will take on Saint Mary’s beginning Monday, March 6. Both losers of the AUS semi-finals will play a best of three series to become the last entrant into the U SPORTS championship in Fredericton, N.B. March 16-19.

Consolation Series (Best 2-of-3): Saint Mary’s (4) vs. Acadia (2)

Game 1: Monday, Mar. 6 – Saint Mary’s at Acadia, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Wednesday, Mar. 8 – Acadia at Saint Mary’s, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Friday, Mar. 10 – Saint Mary’s at Acadia, 7 p.m.*
(*if necessary)

All games of the AUS championship finals will be broadcast live on Fibe TV (TV1—channels 1 and 401) and webcast at www.AUStv.ca. All games of the consolation final series will be webcast on AUStv.

The 2017 Cavendish Farms U Cup national championship is being hosted by the University of New Brunswick March 16-19 in Fredericton. The Atlantic conference receives three berths in the national championship.

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Acadia looks to UNB/SMU series to extend season

ANTIGONISH, NS – The StFX X-Men overcame a three-goal third period deficit to defeat the Acadia Axemen 5-4 in overtime in Game 3 of the Subway AUS semifinals in front of over 1400 fans at the Charles V. Keating Centre.

With the win the X-Men sweep the series 3-0 over the Axemen and advance to the best-of-three Subway AUS final series, awaiting the winner of the UNB-Saint Mary’s series.

Freshman forward Matt Needham (Pentincton, BC) was the overtime hero, scoring 4:32 into the extra period, connecting off a Bryson Cianfrone (Stoney Creek, ON) pass.

X-Men head coach Brad Peddle commented, “I was really proud of the group tonight. It wasn’t the start we wanted and we got down a couple goals in the first period, but it was a great test and I really liked how resilient the guys were tonight.”

It was the visiting Axemen who took a 2-0 lead after the first period of play. Sam Fioretti’s (Calgary, AB) shot from the top of the face-off circle at 8:36 beat X-Men goalie Chase Marchand (Halifax, NS) up high. Boston Leier (Saskatoon, SK) and Stephen Harper (Burlington, ON) picked up assists. Read more »

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Pettersson nets two in Axemen loss

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The StFX X-Men took a stranglehold on the best of five semi-final series with a 4-2 win over the host Acadia Axemen. Despite holding a 12-3 home record in the regular season, the Axemen are now 0-2 in Wolfville during the playoffs and will need a win on Monday in Antigonish to keep the series alive.

StFX scored three goals in the first period, with the game winner coming from a power-play goal from defenseman Jagger Dirk (Penticton, B.C.) late in the first.

StFX managed to hold off a surging Acadia team in the third for the victory and 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

“We knew they would push hard with us getting the first one, so we had to come out hard too”, said the Subway First Star of the Game X-Man Eric Locke. “Our starts have been unbelievable and we’ve let up a bit but our chances have been there and we pulled another win out”

Three of the X-Men’s goals came on the man-advantage. “Our power-play was huge to get us some goals early tonight. We like to move the puck quickly on the big ice and spread them out and attack the net when the play is there”, noted Locke.

For the second night in a row, the StFX X-Men held a two-goal lead by the end of the first period and up 3-1 heading into the second.

The first X-Men goal came just over a minute into the opening period from forward Eric Locke (Toronto, Ont.).Read more »

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Game 2 goes Friday night in Wolfville

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U SPORTS No. 10 ranked StFX X-Men spoiled the No. 5 Acadia’s first playoff game of the 2016-17 season, defeating the Axemen 4-3 in double OT to take a 1-0 lead, in the best-of-5 series.

The Axemen dominated for long stretches of the game, but were constantly playing catch up, as they fell behind 2-0 after the first period, before tying the game up in the second and forcing overtime in the third frame.

Acadia fell behind late in the first period, when the X-Men scored on the man-advantage to jump out to a 1-0 lead.

The goal came from StFX forward, Kristoff Kontos (Penetanguishene, Ont.), who let a wrist shot go that caught the top left corner, breaking Axemen goaltender, Robert Steeves’ (Moncton, N.B.) water bottle.

The X-Men added to their lead, with a goal from rookie forward, Matt Needham (Penticton, B.C.), who scored in tight on Steeves, from a rebounded shot from the point. Needham flipped the puck up over Steeves shoulder to give the X-Men a 2-0 lead.

Acadia led 16-13 in shots by the end of the first, despite trailing 2-0.

Refusing to let the game get away from them, the Axemen managed to tie the game in the second period, with goals from veterans, Remy Giftopoulos (Ancaster, Ont.) and Brett Thompson (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) to send the Wolfville crowd into a frenzy.Read more »

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Schemitsch, Pufahl & Harper honored

(HALIFAX, N.S.) – Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2016-17 AUS men’s hockey major award winners and all-stars as selected by the conference’s seven head coaches following regular season play.

Fourth-year UNB forward Philippe Maillet has been named the Atlantic University Sport most valuable player.

Other AUS major award winners announced today were Saint Mary’s Hunter Garlent of Thorold, Ont., who was named rookie of the year; Acadia’s Geoff Schemitch of Thornhill, Ont., who was selected as the most sportsmanlike player; StFX’s Eric Locke of Toronto, Ont., who earned the Godfrey award for student-athlete community service; and UNB head coach Gardiner MacDougall who was named the AUS coach of the year for the fifth time in his career.Read more »

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StFX X-Men vs Acadia Axemen

The Acadia Axemen and StFX X-Men square off in a best of 5, AUS men’s hockey semi-final series starting in Wolfville on Thursday night at 7pm at the Andrew H. McCain Arena. Tickets are now available for the opening two games of the series, with game 2 taking place Friday night, also on Axemen home turf. This is going to be a tightly contested series, with the two teams matching up closely, both sides with four deep lines, punishing defenders, and both teams having two goalies who are more than capable of stealing the series for their respective teams given the chance.

Here’s how the teams matched up in the regular season:

The Acadia Axemen finished 2nd in the AUS with a 20-8-2 record for 42pts. They finished the season out strong, winners of their last 5 games. Acadia was particularly strong on home ice going 12-3, on the season.

StFX, meanwhile, compiled a 16-12-2 record; their 34pts were good for 3rd place in the AUS, and they are coming off a strong quarterfinal playoff series which saw them defeat U de M Aigles Bleus in 2 straight in the best of 3 quarterfinals.

The Axemen are capable of scoring plenty of goals, with 111 on the season, 12 more than the X-Men’s 99. The Axemen also had the edge in keeping the puck out, allowing just 86 goals against vs X’s 102. That’s a goal differential of +25 for Acadia to StFX’s negative (-3).

Despite the goal differential, StFX had Acadia’s number this season, winning the season series 4 games to 1. However, the Axemen may have made their statement on the final game of the season, where they knocked off the X-Men 8-5, getting the monkey off their back against the Antigonish team.

Puck Stoppers

Read more »

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Semifinal Series #2 (Best 3-of-5): Acadia (2) vs. StFX (3)

Game 1: Thursday, Feb. 23 – StFX at Acadia, 7 p.m.

Game 2: Friday, Feb. 24 – StFX at Acadia, 7 p.m.

Game 3: Monday, Feb. 27 – Acadia at StFX, 7 p.m.

Game 4: Tuesday, Feb. 28 – Acadia at StFX, 7 p.m.*

Game 5: Thursday, Mar. 2 – StFX at Acadia, 7 p.m.*

(*if necessary)

Get your tickets today for exciting Acadia Axemen men’s hockey playoff action at the Andrew H. McCain Arena box office, or purchase online by clicking here!

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Childerley & Farrell each net a pair in the win

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U Sports No. 5 ranked Acadia Axemen (20-8-2) ended their regular season on a high note, erasing a two-goal deficit in the second period to knock off the StFX X-Men (16-12-2) and push their current winning streak to four games.

Not looking to disappoint the fans, the third period saw a wild circularity of Acadia getting two separate two-goal leads, before having the X-Men respond with a goal of their own each time.

Unfortunately for the X-Men, that was as close as they came to recapturing their lead, losing 8-5.

Acadia opened the scoring early in the first, with a power-play goal from Boston Leier (Saskatoon, Sask.), after he picked up a rebound from a point shot by Kyle Farrell (Howie Center, N.S.). Leier fired a low backhand past X-Men goalie, Brandon Hope (Canton, Michigan) for his 18th goal of the regular season and a 1-0 Axemen lead.

StFX responded quickly with a goal of their own from X-Men forward, Michael Clarke (London, Ont.), who fired a quick snapshot from the inside edge of the right faceoff circle past Axemen goalie Robert Steeves (Moncton, N.B.).Read more »