4 different Axemen tally to lead the way

It was a game of firsts for many of the Axemen tonight. In their first home game of the regular season, Acadia started first year netminder Devin Williams in goal, and he achieved his first win. Brendan Childerley, who transferred from St Thomas after 3 years, suited up in his first regular season game as an Axemen, and was first star of the game,  and many other first year Axemen got a taste of AUS regular season hockey and more than held their own in the team’s first win of the season.

The Axemen got on the board first when Brendan Childerley picked up a bad rebound off the pad of Huskies netminder Cole Cheveldave and deposited it into the back of the net; Geoff Schemitsch and Matthew Pufahl picked up assists on the goal at 11:08. Saint Mary’s responded with under a minute to play in the opening frame when Taylor Burke snuck a puck past Acadia’s rookie netminder Williams, with assists going to Stephen Johnson and Connor McGlynn.

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Axemen return home for Friday Season Opener

story courtesy of friars.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The tenth-ranked Providence College men’s hockey team shutout the Acadia University Axemen, 3-0, in exhibition play at Schneider Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Sophomore transfer Scott Conway paced the Friars with a goal and two assists, while sophomore netminder Hayden Hawkey turned away 18 shots for the shutout.

Senior Josh Monk also chipped in offense with two assists.  Kasper Björkqvist and Anthony Florentino also added helpers for the Friars on Sunday.

The Friars got things started just 1:59 into the first as Ryan Tait jammed home a rebound after strong work down low in the zone by freshman Björkqvist and Conway.

Providence extended its lead to 2-0 at 9:57 of the first as Bryan Lemos had a rebound off a Scott Conway shot carom in off his shin pad and into the back of the net.

Axemen netminder Robert Steeves turned away 16 shots in 44:47 of play before giving way to Brandon Glover, who made eight saves.

After a scoreless middle frame, the Friar power play connected in the third period as Conway curled to the top of the left circle and fired a wrist shot off the post and in to make it a 3-0 game at the 5:54 mark of the third.  The Friars controlled the play in the final period, outshooting the Axemen, 16-2.

Matthew Pufahl led the Axemen with four shots on goal, while Josh Monk and Brandon Duhaime each paced the Friars with three shots.

Special teams busy in CIS vs NCAA exhibition game

story from gonu.com BOSTON – No. 15 Northeastern men’s ice hockey received goals from three different scorers, along with a combined 22 saves from Ryan Ruck and Jake Theut, to help the Huskies to a 3-1 victory against Acadia in an exhibition contest on Saturday night at Matthews Arena.

Adam Gaudette, Trevor Owens and Eric Williams all scored for Northeastern, while Williams (one goal, one assist) and Garret Cockerill (two assists) recorded multi-point nights. Ruck made 13 saves through the first half of the game before Theut finished off with nine saves in just over 30 minutes of action.

Northeastern jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Gaudette and Owens less than four minutes apart in the first period to set the tone for the evening. Sam Fioretti would cut NU’s lead to one midway through the second period with a power play tally before Williams regained the Huskies’ two-goal cushion six minutes into the final frame.

NU outshot the Axemen 34-23 for the night and won 40-of-29 face-offs, led by an 18-of-27 performance form captain John Stevens. The teams would combine for 114 penalty minutes in a chippy affair, with 78 from Acadia and 36 from the Huskies.

Goal descriptions:
• Gaudette gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead with a four-on-four tally just 3:35 into the game. After Northeastern picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone, Garret Cockerill rimmed it around the boards up to Gaudette in the neutral zone. The sophomore then sped down the right side and ripped a shot five-hole to beat Williams for the score.

• The hosts went up by two with 12:37 to play in the first period when Trevor Owens beat Williams glove side. The play began when Dylan Sikura took a long feed from Owens in the defensive zone and went in on a breakaway. Williams made the big save, but Sikura gathered his own rebound and spotted Owens joining the rush. Sikura fed him with a pass and Owens buried it top shelf.

• Acadia cut the deficit to 2-1 midway through the second period with a power play conversion from Samuel Fioretti. With the Axemen moving the puck around the zone, Matthew Pufahl fired a shot from the point that got knocked down in front. Boston Leier, however, found the loose puck and dished it to Fioretti on the tap-in past Ruck.

• Following a two-minute five-on-three power play for Northeastern six minutes into the third period, Williams extended the Husky lead to two with a slap shot from the right dot. Williams began the play himself by holding the puck in the attacking end and waiting for reinforcements. He found that in Cockerill, whose one-timer from the slot was knocked down by an Axeman defenseman. Cockerill picked up his own rebound, though, and fed Williams for a rocket that beat Williams over the glove.

Acadia offense comes alive against Concordia

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – It was a goalie’s worst nightmare and every hockey fan’s dream in Wolfville on Saturday night, as the Axemen won their second game of preseason play in a 8-4 victory over the visiting Concordia Stingers. The Axemen evened up their two game pre-season series against the Stingers following a close 3-2 home loss last night.

For the second night in a row, the Axemen ran into penalty troubles early, taking two before the halfway point of the fast paced first period. It was Concordia who fell into penalty trouble late in the game, finishing with 18 minutes in minors on the night.

Shortly after their second penalty, Acadia second year forward Kyle Farrell (Howie Center, N.S.) scored his first of two in the period, placing the puck between the legs of Concordia goaltender, Robin Billingham (Ottawa, Ont.), around the eleven-minute mark.

The Stingers were quick to respond, as third year forward Phillipe Hudon (Hudson, Que.) corralled the puck in the corner, following a failed clearing attempt by the Axemen, and threw the puck to the high slot, where rookie defenseman Matthieu Desautels (Alexandria, Ont.) fired a wrist shot into the top left corner of the net.

Farrell was quick to respond, as he scooped up the rebound of second year defenseman Liam Maaskant’s (Linton, Ont.) point shot, and tucked the puck under Billingham’s right pad.

Finishing the scoring off in the first period was second year Concordia forward Raphael Lafontaine (Gatineau, Que.), who finished off a beautiful pass from fourth year forward Julien Rainville-Avon (Candiac, Que.), going high glove on a shorthanded 2 on 1. By periods end, the shots were 10-5 for Acadia, with the game tied 2-2.

Things got chippy early in the second, setting the tone for the period, when a scrum broke out in front of the Concordia net, in the first of three Acadia penalties in the period. Following the end of the first penalty, fourth year Acadia forward Taylor Makin (Lethbridge, Alta.) rushed in on the right wing and fired a quick wrist shot at Billingham, with second year Axemen defenseman Chance Braid, (Provost, Alta.) flying in on the left to pot the rebound off of Billingham’s right pad, glove side. After failing to capitalize on two more Acadia penalties, rookie Concordia forward Charles Guevremont, (Verdun, Que.) sped in behind the Axemen net and popped the puck under the left leg of Devin Williams (Saginaw, Mich.), to tie the game 3-3.

Unfortunately for Concordia, it was all Acadia from here on out, with the Axemen scoring five more on the night, including two more from Subway first star of the game, Chance Braid, for the hat trick and one each from forwards Remy Giftopoulos, (Ancaster, Ont.) and Daniel Patterson (Toronto, Ont.). Subway third star of the night, Kyle Farrell, added two assists on the night for a four-point effort.

Acadia looked strong on the power play, notching half of the goals while up a man and even scoring two of them while up two men, going four for eight on the night. Concordia, meanwhile, was unable to capitalize on the power play until late in the game, going one for nine on the night, with a late tip in power play goal from Concordia forward, and Subway second star of the night, Charles Guevermont for his second of the night.

Concordia goaltender, Robin Billingham, was chased from the net after two periods and gave up 5 goals on 20 shots. Third period replacement, Antoine Marchand (Montreal, Que.) did not do much better, allowing three more goals on seven shots. Acadia rookie Devin Williams stopped 22 of 26 shots for the win, including two breakaway attempts.

The Axemen will spend next weekend south of the border to take on Northeastern and Providence in NCAA exhibition play and then return home to open their regular season on Friday, Oct. 7 at home against the Saint Mary’s Huskies. The Stingers head to the University of Vermont to take on the Catamounts on October 1^st before league play against Nipissing on October 7.

Submitted by Joshua Foote, Acadia Athletics Communications Office

Axemen fall in Exhibition Play

(Wolfville, N.S) – Three unanswered goals helped the Concordia Stingers defeat the Acadia Axemen 3-2 in non-conference exhibition play on Friday night with 1423 fans in attendance at the Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville. The game was the second for both teams in exhibition play with the Acadia winning their first game 6-4 over Saint Mary’s on Wednesday in Bridgetown, N.S. and the Stingers rebounding from their 5-2 loss to the UQTR Patriots six days ago.

The Axemen opened up the scoring in the first period at 6:31 with forth year defender-forward Tyler Ferry (Richmond Hill, Ont.) controlling his own rebound and tucking the puck behind Stingers’ goaltender Miguel Sullivan (Petit De Grat, N.S.) on his far side.

After a Concordia minor 20 seconds later, the Axemen jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Remy Giftopolous (Ancaster, Ont.) controlled rebound from the point shot of veteran defender Geoff Schemitsch (Thornhill, Ont.) and put the puck passed Sullivan.

After Acadia took two minor penalties just a little after the midway of the first, Concordia head coach Marc-André Élement took a timeout in an attempt to take advantage of their two-man advantage. His bid was successful as Concordia cut the lead in half at the 15:06 mark with captain Oliver Hinse (Sherbrooke, Que.) redirected a shot from the point putting it past Axemen goaltender Brandon Glover (Victoria, B.C.).

Just over a minute into the second period had elapsed when forward Matt Boudreau (St. Eustache, Que.) tied the game up at two with a wrap-around goal that beat Glover to his far side.

Both teams exchanged scoring chances but were stymied by the great play of Glover and Sullivan, who got the win with his 35 save performance.

The Axemen made a goalie change shortly after the half way point of the second period, putting in Robert Steeves (Moncton, N.B.) who would eventually record the loss for the Axemen.

The second period was marred by penalties from the Axemen in an unusually chippy affair for preseason action. There would be 13 infractions from both sides as Concordia went one for eight on the powerplay, while the Axemen one for two.

The game-winning goal was scored by Concordia’s alternate captain, Phillipe Hudon (Hudson, Que.) on a partial breakaway after receiving a great outlet pass from Scott Oke (St. Lambert, Que.) who beat Steeves glove side to give the Stingers their first lead of the game at 12:43 of the third.

The Axemen attempted a late rally but fell short as Concordia’s goaltender Sullivan played well to ensure a Stinger’s victory and a second star of the game recognition. The Subway Player of the Game award went to Stinger Matthieu Desautels while Acadia’s Remy Giftopoulos was named the third star.

Both teams will meet again tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. at the Acadia Athletic Complex in Wolfville before the Axemen will head off to the United States to take on Northeastern and Providence as preseason action continues.

By John Woodworth, Acadia Communications Office.