Acadia Earns 1st Round Playoff Bye

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – With a large gathering on hand for the official opening of Andrew H. McCain Arena and a quarterfinal playoff bye on the line, the CIS No. 3 ranked Axemen could feel the energy of a hopeful crowd of 1996.

It was a timely effort by the Axemen who had yet to beat the StFX in three regular season match ups. Acadia saved their best performance for last as they rallied late in the final period to grab a 5-4 victory over the X-Men by scoring two goals in the remaining 90 seconds to punch their ticket to a second round berth.

On a rare 2-on-0 break at the eight minute mark of the opening period, rookie Boston Leier (Saskatoon, Sask.), decided to shoot the puck rather than pass it, sniping a shot off the cross bar to give Acadia a 1-0 lead. Tyler Ferry (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Taylor Makin (Lethbridge, Alta.) received assists on the play.

Under a minute later, X-Men forward Trey Lewis (Aldouane, N.B.) scored his second goal of the season on a 2-on-1 break that tied the game at one.

The X-Men took the first of three leads when Michael Kirkpatrick (North Sydney, N.S.) scored on the powerplay at 13:30 of the first. Read more »

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Dalhousie Tigers grabbed an upset win over the CIS No. 3 Acadia Axemen with three unanswered goals to give the Tigers a 5-2 victory. A win over the Tigers would have guaranteed the Axemen a quarterfinal bye, but now Acadia will have to win or tie StFX tomorrow night to capture second place in the AUS final standings.

After an opening ceremony that paid tribute to our Canadian Forces and graduating Acadia Axemen hockey players along with a puck dropping by former SMILE member and an Axemen follower for over 20 years Nick Vidito, the Tigers were quick to jump on the scoreboard.

Second year forward Andrew Rieder (Regina, Sask.) buried a perfectly placed wrist shot from in tight over the shoulder of Brandon Glover (Victoria, B.C.) to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead only one minute and eleven seconds into the opening frame.

Just over 11 minutes later, the Tigers extended the lead to two on the powerplay when Mike Evelyn (Ottawa, Ont.) scored his sixth goal of the season.

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Thompson, with his 17th, stands up as the game winner

The Acadia Axemen (18-4-3) are one step closer to securing a first round AUS playoff bye with a tight 1-0 victory over the U de M Aigles Bleus (10-13-2) on Sunday afternoon. The game was originally to be played on Saturday night, but due to inclement weather in Moncton, the game was moved to Sunday.

In what was a very fast and exciting game to watch, with end to end action, very few penalties, and minimal whistles, the teams showed off great speed and skill, but the most important stat on the day came from the goaltenders. Acadia’s Brandon Glover turned away all 27 shots he faced from the Aigles Bleus, while Brandon Thibeau stopped 37 of 38 shots directed his way by the Axemen.

The only shot to beat Thibeau came off the stick of Axemen sniper Brett Thompson, who scored his 17^th on the season at 13:32 of the 2^nd period, with assists going to rookie Sam Fioretti and 2^nd year defenceman Geoff Schemitsch.

Acadia was 0 for 2 on the powerplay, while Moncton was 0 for 3. The Acadia win snapped a three game win-streak that Moncton was riding entering the matchup.

Following the win, Coach Burns had the following to say about his team, “Very proud of our effort this weekend. This is a tough road trip playing against these two teams (UNB and Moncton). They are both playing well right now.”

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Acadia earns point, takes season series 3-1

The CIS #2 ranked Acadia Axemen were in Fredericton Friday night to take on the #3 ranked UNB Varsity Reds, and the game did not disappoint. Just 6 days after playing on Acadia’s home ice, which saw the Axemen come away with a 4-1 victory, UNB turned the tides on the visitors with a 2-1 overtime win.

With the win, UNB moves 3 points up on Acadia for top spot in the AUS; while Acadia earned an important point as they vie for one of the two spot spots which earn a first round playoff bye in the AUS. The Axemen now lead St. FX and SMU by 4 points with 3 games remaining on the season.

Tonight’s game saw UNB open the scoring with the only goal of the first period at 15:01, when Jordan Murray was able to slam home a shot on a broken scrambled play. The Varsity Reds and Axemen each had 8 shots in the opening period, with Acadia’s Brandon Glover and UNB’s David Shantz both standing tall in their respective team’s net.

Acadia came back and evened things up on the scoreboard in the second, as Brett Thompson was able to find Mike Cazzola to the side of the UNB net, and Cazzola shoveled the puck by Shantz to knot the score at one just 1:28 into the frame. Alex Beaton picked up the secondary assist on Cazzola’s 14^th on the season. And that was the end of the scoring in regulation.Read more »