Mavericks Acquire Defenseman Chris Owens

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(March 11, 2015)- The Missouri Mavericks announced Wednesday afternoon that they have acquired defenseman Chris Owens from the Ontario Reign in exchange for forward Josh Brittain. Missouri also gained future considerations in the trade.

“Chris is a solid defenseman with the offensive capability to help our power play”, said Richard Matvichuk, Head Coach & Director of Hockey Operations for the Missouri Mavericks. “He has had a great collegiate career at Acadia University and we are excited to get him in the lineup in the near future.”

The twenty-five year old St. John’s, Newfoundland native Owens, 25, appeared in training camp this season, first with the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps, and then with the ECHL’s Ontario Reign, before returning to Acadia University for a fifth and final year of CIS eligibility. He notched 4 goals and 16 assists through 25 games. Owens led all defenseman on Acadia’s roster in points (20) through their 2014-15 campaign. In his five season with the Axemen, Chris recorded 124 points in 134 regular season AUS games.

The Axemen defenseman was named to the AUS all-rookie team in 2010-11, and selected as a first team AUS all-star 3 times, and a second-team all Canadian in 2011-12. Owens and the Acadia Axemen lost their CIS University Cup quarterfinal berth last Friday, losing to UQTR by a 6-5 score in overtime.

“We are excited for Chris to get an opportunity at the pro level. He made an excellent decision to return for his fifth year and earn additional courses for his future while helping get the team back to Nationals”, said Acadia head coach Darren Burns, “He will do very well in the East Coach Hockey League and I look forward to following his progress.”

Prior to coming to Acadia University, Owens set career points records in the Maritime Junior A Hockey League with 258 points in just 213 games with the Miramichi Timberwolves.

Acadia falls 6-5 to UQTR in Overtime

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UQTR’s goalie Guilliame Nadeau covers the puck as the Axemen forward drives towards the net. UQTR would come from behind to win the OT thriller 6-5.

The Acadia Axemen dropped a heartbreaking 6-5 overtime defeat at the hands of the UQTR Patriotes on Friday afternoon in Halifax. The game was the third of four University Cup quarterfinal matchups, with the winner moving on to the semi finals, and the loser going home.

Going into the third period Acadia held a 4-1 lead but UQTR would outscore the Axemen 4-1 in the third period to tie the game at 5 to force sudden death overtime, where UQTR’s Vincent Marcoux, took the puck from his own blue line, moved in on a 2 on 1, and decided to shoot, ripping a shot short side on Axemen goaltender Brandon Glover to send his team to the University Cup semifinals.

The Axemen came out of the gate hot, firing 15 shots at UQTR starting goalie Francis Desrosiers, with only a powerplay marker, at the 10 minute mark, off the stick of Acadia 5th year quarterback defenceman Chris Owens beating the goalie. Before the period ended an ugly play, as UQTR forward Carl-Antoine Delisle took a clear run at Axemen Captain Liam Heelis, as Heelis came around the net with the puck, sending Heelis to the ice. Delisle was given a 5 minute major for a hit to the head and a game misconduct for the infraction, while Heelis got up woozy and did not return for the remainder of the game. The Axemen would take a 1-0 lead into the dressing room after a period. Axemen goalie Brandon Glover turned aside all 9 shots he faced.

The second period was all Axemen, as Remy Giftopoulos fired home a powerplay goal just 1:22 into the frame, and before the goal could be announced, fellow first year forward Boston Leier scored another to put Acadia up 3-0. The goals came just 43 seconds apart.Read more »

2748OTTAWA (CIS) – The University of Alberta Golden Bears hope to repeat as University Cup champions later this week when the top CIS men’s hockey programs gather in Halifax for the first time in history.

Championship website: www.universitycup.ca

St. Francis Xavier University hosts the 2015 tournament at the Scotiabank Centre. The national competition, using a new eight-team format this year, gets underway on Thursday and culminates Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Atlantic Time (5:30 p.m. ET) with the gold-medal final, live on Sportsnet 360.

Saturday’s semifinals are also live on Sportsnet 360 (noon & 4 p.m. Atlantic), while the quarter-finals and the bronze-medal match are set to air on Eastlink TV. All eight games from the tourney will be webcast on www.CIS-SIC.tv.

The Golden Bears, who won their record 14th University Cup title a year ago and successfully defended the Canada West banner over the weekend, will be joined in Nova Scotia’s capital by the second-seeded UNB Varsity Reds (AUS champions), No. 3 Guelph Gryphons (OUA champs), No. 4 UQTR Patriotes (OUA finalists), No. 5 Acadia Axemen (AUS finalists), No. 6 Calgary Dinos (Canada West finalists), No. 7 Windsor Lancers (OUA bronze medallists) and No. 8 StFX X-Men (AUS semi-finalists).

The quarter-final matchups, split over two days, include Calgary vs. Guelph at 1 p.m. and Windsor vs. UNB at 7 p.m. on Thursday, as well as Acadia vs. UQTR at 1 p.m. and StFX vs. Alberta at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Alberta was a logical choice to earn the top seed for a third straight year as the reigning champions led all 20 weekly national polls this season, posted a CIS-best 24-3-1 mark in league play and added four straight wins in the Canada West playoffs, including a two-game sweep against Calgary in the conference final.Read more »

Axemen Return to the University Cup for 2nd Straight Year

CIS-SEEDINGThe Acadia Axemen will take the ice on Friday afternoon at 1pm at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre, when they face the UQTR Patriotes. This year’s University Cup tournament features a new format, with 8 teams, separated into two brackets, in a win and move on, lose and go home format.

The Axemen return to Nationals after an unfulfilling finish to last year, as they went out to Saskatoon as AUS champions, with high hopes of bringing home a CIS title to Wolfville, NS. But the opening game of the tournament all but dashed those hopes, dropping the opener 4-2 to the Windsor Lancers. In the past 6 team format, although it wasn’t a single game knockout, an opening loss would mean a lot would need to go right the rest of the way, with some help from another team to advance. It wasn’t meant to be as Acadia was knocked off by the tournament host University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-2. Despite the two close games, the Axemen wanted more… another chance.Read more »

Acadia ranked #5, face UQTR Friday at 1pm

The Acadia Axemen received the #5 ranking for the CIS University Cup tournament in Halifax this week; with that seed, they will take on the #4 seeded UQTR Patriotes on Friday at 1pm at the Scotiabank Centre. The UQTR were OUA finalists, falling to the tournament #3 ranked Guelph Gryphons. Acadia lost in the AUS finals to the tournament #2 ranked UNB Varsity Reds.

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UNB downs Acadia 4-2, Wins Series 2-0

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Axemen forward Mike Cazzola attempts to corral a rolling puck in front of the Varsity Reds net. UNB went on to win the game 4-2, capturing the AUS championship.

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – After an 8-2 loss to the Varsity Reds in game one in Fredericton, Acadia had hope to pull off a home rink win to tie the best of three series at one game apiece.

Facing elimination, the CIS No. 3 ranked Acadia Axemen fell short in pushing the series to a third and final game, losing 4-2 to the eventual AUS champions and CIS No. 2 ranked UNB Varsity Reds.

In front of a capacity crowd of 2100 at the Andrew H. McCain arena, the Axemen struck first on an even handed goal at 3:53 by second year Axeman Taylor Makin (Lethbridge, Alta.). On a giveaway by a UNB defenseman, Makin capitalized on the opportunity.Read more »

Axemen Thompson & Cazzola named to All-Stars, Franko & Giftopoulos to Rookie Team

AUS-ALLSTARS15(HALIFAX, N.S.) – Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2014-15 AUS men’s hockey major award winners and all-stars as selected by the conference’s eight head coaches following regular season play.

Second-year forward Philippe Maillet of Lachenaie, Que. has been named the Atlantic University Sport most valuable player.

Other AUS major award winners announced today were UNB’s Randy Gazzola of Thorold, Ont., who was named rookie of the year; Saint Mary’s Ben Duffy of Lower Sackville, N.S., who was selected as the most sportsmanlike player; StFX’s Rob Slaney of Portugal Cove, N.L., 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 fourth time in his career.Read more »