Leier & Thompson net two each

The Acadia Axemen came into Friday’s game with something to prove. After dropping a 4-3 shootout loss to the Dalhousie Tigers on Wednesday night, Acadia came back to Halifax wanting to show that they are still one of the elite hockey teams in the CIS, and they did just that. When the final buzzer rang, the Axemen were heading home with a 5-2 victory over the CIS #3 ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies.

It didn’t take long for the Axemen to take the early lead, just 27 seconds into the opening frame, 2^nd year forward Boston Leier let go a snap shot that beat SMU goalie Cole Cheveldave, high to the glove side, to give Acadia the early confidence booster.

At 13:43, with Huskie teammate Justin Wellar in the penalty box, Stephen MacAulay stole the puck from Axemen defenceman Matt Pufahl behind the Acadia net, and MacAulay was able to tuck the puck behind Brandon Glover to tie the game at 1.

But before the Huskies could kill off Wellar’s minor penalty, Boston Leier wired his second of the game past the Huskies goalie, to put the Axemen up 2-1, with assists going to Sam Fioretti and Geoff Schemitsch.

The only goal of the second period came off the stick of SMU’s Mitchell Maynard, as he let a slap shot go from the top of the circle that pinballed off two Axemen and past a screened Glover to square the score at two.

2:22 into the third period, Axemen captain Brett Thompson scored his first goal of the season, putting the puck over the blocker of Cheveldave to put the Axemen ahead to stay. Michael Clarke and Remy Giftopoulos picked up the helpers on the goal. Exactly six minutes later, Clarke added a goal of his own, this one on the powerplay, with assists from Taylor Makin and Matt Pufahl.Read more »

Franko scores two for Axemen

The Axemen did a lot of things right on Wednesday night in their first road game of the young AUS hockey season. They fired 50 shots on Dalhousie goaltender Corbin Boes; they controlled the possession and end zone time, at times, even strength was a powerplay formation in the Dal zone for the Axemen; but it was Acadia’s mistakes in their own end that proved to be costly and ultimately put them in the position to be in a shootout, for the extra point with Dalhousie.

Dalhousie opened the scoring just 2:10 into the opening period, on a turnover by Acadia in their own end, when Dal forward Felix Page picked up a loose puck and let a sharp angle shot go that Axemen 2nd year goaltender Robert Steeves stopped, but sent the rebound to the slot where Tanner Williams slapped home the goal uncontested.

Just before the 10 minute mark, 2nd year Axemen forward Zach Franko scored unassisted to tie the game up at one. But just 2:25 later, Fabian Walsh, again capitalized on an Axemen mishap, as Acadia tried to clear a puck up the middle of the ice, and it was knocked down which led to Walsh sliding a puck past a sprawling Steeves. That sent the teams to the dressing rooms after 1 period, with Dal leading Acadia 2-1.

Second year Axemen defenceman Matthew Pufahl tied the game at two late in the second period at 16:06 as he snapped and absolute rocket that pinged off the crossbar and post and into the net.  Pufahl had made a number of rushes and created scoring chances, narrowly missing on a great solo effort just minutes before, but this time he made no mistake in tying the game at 2; Pettersson and Farrell picked up assists on the goal.Read more »

Steeves stops 30 shots for the shutout

The Acadia Axemen capped off a successful homecoming weekend with a 4-0 shutout of the visiting St. Thomas Tommies on Saturday night, to improve their season record to 2 wins and 1 loss. The Axemen, coming off a 4-3 overtime win against Moncton on Friday night, battled the Tommies to a scoreless draw in the first period of play. Acadia fired 14 shots on the St. Thomas net, but netminder Tyson Teichmann was up for the challenge. At the other end of the ice, second year Axemen Robert Steeves kept STU off the board stopping all 11 shots he faced.

Acadia finally broke the goose egg at 8:19 of the second period, when Boston Leier scored on the powerplay, with assists from Mike Cazzola and Kyle Farrell, to put Acadia up 1-0. That was all of the scoring in the period, with Acadia outshooting STU 13-6.

The Axemen broke the game open in the third period with three unanswered markers, starting with Dylan Anderson scoring at 6:02, after some nice work from defenceman Matthew Pufahl. It was Anderson’s second goal of the weekend. Kyle Farrell scored at 11:18, also his second of the weekend, from Zachery Franko and Daniel Pettersson. And at 14:45 Sam Fioretti capitalized on a St. Thomas turnover in their own end to put the Axemen up 4-0. Remy Giftopoulos and Micheal Clarke picked up the helpers on Fioretti’s second of the season.

Acadia outshoot STU 21-13 in the final frame for a game total of 48-30 in favor of the Axemen. Robert Steeves picked up his first shutout and first win of the 2015-16 season for Acadia. The Axemen were 1 for 7 on the powerplay on the night, while St. Thomas was 0 for 5.

The three star selection had STU goalie Teichmann picking up first star, with Steeves and Kyle Farrell named second and third stars respectively.

Next up for Acadia, the team travels to Halifax, to play the Dalhousie Tigers on Wednesday night at the Halifax Forum, game time is 7pm.

Farrell with his first as an Axemen

The Acadia Axemen opened up homecoming weekend at Acadia University with a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting U de M Aigles Bleus on Friday night in Wolfville. It was first year forward, Kyle Farrell who turned out to be the hero for the Axemen, scoring in the extra frame to send the Axemen faithful home happy.

The teams battled the first period to a scoreless tie, with Axemen netminder Brandon Glover turning aside 13 Moncton shots, while his counterpart at the other end of the ice, Brandon Thibeau turned aside 14 shots from the Axemen.

Acadia broke out on the scoreboard early in the second period as Axemen captain Mike Cazzola snapped a shot past the Aigles Bleus goalie to make it 1-0. Michael Clarke and Brett Thompson picked up assists on the goal. The score stuck until 15:10 of the middle frame when Dylan Anderson took a feed from Remy Giftopoulos and slid the puck by a sprawling Thibeau to make it 2-0. Michael Clarke added the second assist on the goal. Just over two minutes later, it was Cazzola scoring again, as he brought the puck across the front of the net and out waited the goalie before making it 3-0. Boston Leier and Kyle Farrell had the helpers on that tally.

As the second period closed it looked like Acadia had the game well in hand, outshooting their opponents 15-9 in the second period.

But Moncton showed its resilience in the third period, just 46 seconds into the period as Victor Beaulac scored from Robbie Graham and Allain Saulnier to make it 3-1. Then at 4:43, Alex Saulnier beat Glover with a snap shot to cut the lead to one. The Aigles Bleus managed to tie the game at 11:44 as Mitchell Robillard converted on a nice passing play to square things up. That’s the way regulation time ended, despite Acadia outshooting Moncton 11-4 in the period.Read more »

St. FX with a 3-1 Win over Acadia

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The StFX X-Men spoiled the party at Acadia’s season opener dropping the Axemen 3-1 despite outshooting the X-Men 36-28.

The X-Men jumped on the scoreboard first seven minutes into the opening period when forward Eric Locke (Toronto, Ont.) scored an unassisted goal from a shallow angle to the side of the net that was deflected high by an Axeman defender.

With a 1-0 StFX lead into the first intermission, the Axemen finally scored after a 16-12 shots on goal advantage in the first period when second year forward Sam Fioretti (Calgary, Alta.) deflected a Daniel Pettersson (Toronto, Ont.) shot from the point to tie the game at one on the man-advantage at 10:44 in the second period.

Seven minutes later, first year forward Holden Cook (Oshawa, Ont.) netted the eventual game winner at the end of a powerplay when Holden sent the puck to the back of the net on a beautiful feed from X-Man Nathan Chialitti (Maple, Ont.).

X-man Kristoff Kontos (Penetanguishene, Ont.) scored the insurance goal 32 seconds into the third period to grab a 3-1 win on the road in Wolfville.

Drew Owsley repelled 35 Acadia shots and was rewarded with the Subway First Star of the Game and Acadia goaltender Brandon Glover posted 25 saves on 28 shots.

The Axemen host the Universite de Moncton next Friday night at 7pm and St. Thomas on Saturday night, while the X-Men travel to UNB and UPEI next weekend.

Giftopoulos & Steeves lead the way for the Axemen

The Acadia Axemen finished up their weekend road trip to the northeastern United States by winning by a 2-1 decision over the University of Vermont Catamounts.

In a penalty filled gamed, which at times left on watchers of both teams shaking their heads, the Axemen prevailed on the strength of two goals from second year forward Remy Giftopoulos. Giftopoulos, who also had a goal on Saturday against BU, showed great skill deking the Vermont goalie to find the back of the net.

Meanwhile back in the Acadia net, second year netminder Robert Steeves played a brilliant game, stopping numerous point blank chances from Vermont, ending up stopping 35 of 36 shots which came his way.

The Axemen now return home to prepare to face St. FX X-Men in their AUS season opener at 7pm on Saturday night at the Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville.

See the video recap of the game here: