Acadia scores 3 in the third to defeat U de M

It’s not the way Acadia Axemen head coach Darren Burns would prefer to get the wins, but the Acadia Axemen are making comebacks looks easy and normal as of late. Acadia came into the third period in Moncton, trailing the host Aigles Bleus 3-1 and killing a penalty. When the final buzzer rang, the Axemen were victorious 4-3.

Moncton scored the only goal of the first period when Danny Chiasson put the puck past Axemen goaltender Brandon Glover and into the net at 15:42. Acadia controlled much of the play in the first period but were stymied by U de M netminder Brandon Thibeau, who turned aside all 16 shots the Axemen fired his way. Many were grade A scoring chances.

Moncton padded their lead in the second period at 12:34 when Alex Emund converted a nice three way passing play with the Saulnier brothers to make it 2-0. Acadia answered back at 14:41, when Zachary Franko went for a wrap around and banked the puck off of Thibeau and into the net, to cut the lead to 2-1. But the Aigles Bleus wasted no time getting their two goal lead back as Alex Saulnier converted another three way passing play just 55 seconds later to go back up 3-1. Moncton took that lead into the intermission.

Acadia got the spark they needed at the 3:00 mark of the third period when Brett Thompson scored on the powerplay, taking a pass from Franko and beating Thibeau to cut the lead to one. Matt Pufahl picked up the secondary assist on the goal.

The Axemen found a way to tie the game at 14:25 when Boston Leier found a loose puck infront of the net and made no mistake to square the game at three. Michael Clarke had the only assist on the goal.Read more »

Farrell the OT hero for the 2^nd time in as many nights

It was quite a weekend for the Acadia Axemen. To start, it was Acadia Axemen Family Appreciation weekend, with 17 of the players’ families in town to spend the weekend together, attend team events, and watch their son’s play.

It was also Acadia Hockey Honour Roll induction weekend, which had Axemen alumni standouts Paul Doherty, Brian Casey, Malcolm Cameron and long-time Axemen support staff David Beach joining the Honour Roll of the most influential Axemen of all-time.

Couple those two events, with the fact that on Friday night, the team was down 3-1 in the second period to the CIS #1 ranked UNB Varsity Reds, but instead of putting up the white flag, they battled back and defeated the Reds in overtime; the emotion of the weekend was already draining.

Well the Axemen decided to add another layer of excitement to the weekend on Saturday night! Facing the UPEI Panthers, the opposition took a 5-4 lead with just 52 second remaining in the third, and it looked like the Axemen luck had run out, but Mike Cazzola found a way to even the score with just 18 seconds remaining to send the game to an extra frame. And that’s where Kyle Farrell did what he has done an unprecedented three times already this year, and added a fourth, by scoring the overtime winner to send the Acadia Axemen fans and families home happy with a 6-5 Axemen win!

UPEI got on the board first, with Brock Beukeboom scoring on the powerplay at 4:11 of the opening period. The Axemen responded quickly, however, as Remy Giftopoulos scored his first of the season, just 1:27 later to square the game at 1. That held up until late in the period when Mike Cazzola found a loose puck in front of the net and slid it under a fallen Mavric Parks, the Panthers netminder, to give Acadia the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

The Axemen seemed to pour it on and take control of the game in the second period, until an unfortunate miscommunication on the powerplay led to a UPEI shorthanded goal, by Mason Wilgosh. Axemen netminder Brandon Glover and first year defenceman Brett Cote got their signals crossed, leaving a puck in front of the net for Wilgosh to slap into the Axemen goal. With the Axemen trying to sort that out, they took a penalty sending the Panthers to the powerplay, where the visitors again took advantage of an Axemen mistake. Acadia had the puck as rearguard Matt Pufahl attempted a cross ice saucer pass that Chad Labelle knocked down, went in on a breakaway, and made no mistake, giving UPEI a 3-2 lead. Leaving the Axemen fans stunned at the turn of events.Read more »

Farrell the OT hero for the third time this season

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – First year Axeman forward Kyle Farrell (Howie Center, N.S.) picked up a loose in front of the net and put it past UNB goaltender Alex Dubeau (Mascouche, Que.) for the overtime winner, as the CIS No. 6 ranked Acadia Axemen topped the No. 1 UNB Varsity Reds 4-3, ending the first place Varsity Reds’ four game winning streak.

The win is the second time the Axemen captured an overtime victory against UNB in two meetings. At UNB, the Axemen picked up a 3-2 overtime shootout win over the V-reds.

The overtime victory is Acadia’s fifth game beyond regulation and fourth win, while Farrell’s overtime winner is his third overtime game winning goal of the season.

Acadia pounced on the V-Reds early with a powerplay goal by Subway second star of the game and second year forward Boston Leier (Saskatoon, Sask.) at the 5:04 mark of the first period.

Seven minutes later UNB’s Jordan Murray (Riverview, N.B.) tied the game at one at 12:18 in the first frame, assisted by Rob Mignardi (Richmond Hill, Ont.).Read more »

Cazzola & Farrell with Acadia goals

Hockey is a game of bounces, sometimes they are in your favour, sometimes they go against you. On Friday night in Antigonish, the Acadia Axemen faced the StFX X-Men, but unfortunately for the visitors, the bounces weren’t in their favour, as the X-Men walked away with a 4-2 victory.

The two teams played a scoreless opening frame, with StFX out shooting Acadia 10-3, with two 1st period power plays, but Axemen goalie Brandon Glover stood tall keeping donuts on the scoreboard.

The Axemen got on the board at 5:16 of the second period, while on the power play, as third year forward Mike Cazzola was able to bat a loose puck out of the air, and passed the fallen X-Men goalie, Drew Owsley, to make it 1-0. The X-Men answered back at 10:55 when Eric Locke made a nice individual effort to get deep inside the Acadia zone, but seemingly ran himself out of space and threw a puck from a bad angle towards the crease, the puck bounced off of Axemen defender Stephen Woodworth and past Glover to square the game at 1.

Just a minute and a half later, X’s Zack MacQueen scored on a goal that deflected off of a couple of sticks in front of the Acadia net, from the initial point shot from defenseman Trey Lewis, redirecting by Glover, who had no chance. These two bounces changed the complexion of the game as StFX found new life and confidence with the new found lead.Read more »

Farrell nets his second OT game winner on the season

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Rookie forward Kyle Farrell’s (Howie Center, N.S.) overtime goal 15 seconds into extra time gave the CIS No. 5 ranked Acadia Axemen a 3-2 win over the Dalhousie Tigers. For the second time in two weeks, the Tigers took Acadia into overtime but this time the Axemen were on the winning end.

While outshot 38-21 in three periods, the Tigers kept the scoreboard results close. Dalhousie’s Wendall Vye (Moncton, N.B.) repelled 36 shots to earn the Subway Second Star of the Game.

Acadia opened the first period with two quick goals starting at 7:23 when Dylan Anderson (Ottawa, Ont.) scored his third goal of the season off of a perfect feed in from of the net by teammate Matt Pufahl (Saskatoon, Sask.). Anderson’s goal was followed by Stephen Woodworth’s (Middleton, N.S.) first goal of the season at 8:10 following a pass from the corner from Kyle Farrell to the high slot to give the Axemen a 2-0 lead after one period of play.

Tiger Phil Gadoury (Montreal, Que.) scored Dalhousie’s first goal just over five minutes into the second period to close the margin to one.

At the 7:33 mark of the third period, JP Harvey (Cole Harbour, N.S.) one-timed a beautiful pass from Jackson Playfair (Fort St. John, B.C.) to tie the game at two and eventually force the game into overtime.

Farrell’s goal 15 seconds into overtime, gave the Axemen their first win over the Tigers in regular season play after 4-3 overtime loss to Dalhousie on October 21st in Halifax.

Farrell was named the Subway First Star of the game for his overtime goal and assist. Dylan Anderson was awarded the third star honours.

The Axemen improve to 6-1-1 and head to Antigonish this Friday to take on the StFX X-Men, while the 2-4-2 Tigers have the weekend off and host their cross-town rival Saint Mary’s next Wednesday night at the Halifax Forum.