Posted on Posted in Team Stories

The 16th Annual Hockey Celebrity Dinner highlighted by Wendel Clark appearance

Story courtesy of acadiau.ca 20/06/2013 10:52 pm

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WOLFVILLE, N.S. – For the 16th consecutive year, the Axemen Hockey Celebrity Dinner, presented by local barristers BoyneClarke, drew the attention of the Annapolis Valley sport community with this year’s headliner NHL great and former Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain Wendel Clark.

With just over 500 in attendance, Clark grabbed the attention of an appreciative crowd from his stories of past glory with the Toronto Maple Leafs to his opinion on today’s game and the recent banning of checking in minor hockey leagues across Canada. In a Question and Answer session with TSN Correspondent and emcee Paul Hollingsworth, Clark spoke about the tough guys of the past NHL and how much the game has changed over the last decade with more physical play.Read more »

Posted on Posted in Alumni News

New York Islanders/Bridgeport Signing: Chris Bruton, fighter and Acadia alum

By @LHHockey on May 21 2013, 2:17p http://www.lighthousehockey.com/

The beloved ex-Peoria fighter gets his first NHL contract.

Chris BrutonThe New York Islanders announced another low-on-the-radar signing today that may have you asking yourself, “Who?” As is typical in these late-bloomer additions to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, his history and path to the pros is an adventurous one.

The signing is Chris Bruton, who is essentially an undersized AHL fighter with some modest hockey skill. (See his ample fight card at hockeyfights.com, going back to Spokane in the WHL.)

But he gets a two-way contract — i.e., an NHL deal — so he at least potentially could see time with the big club. This is part of the annual rotation of muscle guys we see in the AHL, with some of them receiving that added carrot of a two-way deal.Read more »

Posted on Posted in Alumni News

ECHL’s Stockton Thunder grab OT win with Clark winning goal

story courtesy of acadiau.ca 06/05/2013 5:50 pm

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Former AUS and CIS men’s hockey Most Valuable Player of the 2011-12 season has once againandrew_clark_action found success in hockey, this time with the Stockton Thunder of the East Coast Hockey League in Stockton, CA.

Named as an AUS All-Star this past season, Clark finished second in the AUS this season with 14 goals and 18 assists in 28 games. He hit an AUS career high of 15 goals and 24 assists last season as the conference’s point leader and CIS MVP.Read more »

Posted on Posted in Alumni News

A great influence on so many people

story courtesy of the chronicle herald, May 4, 2013 – 10:12pm By STEVE BEZANSON Sports Reporter

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Connie MacNeil passed away this past Thursday. He was 84. This photo was taken at Acadia Arena in January 2010, prior to the 60th anniversary of him scoring three goals in a six-second span. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff / File)

His record of 3 goals in 6 seconds during an Annapolis Valley Senior B Hockey League playoff game at the old Acadia Arena on Feb. 27, 1950 might always be cause for debate among hockey purists.

But one thing that will never be disputed is the character and charisma Connie MacNeil exhibited as an educator, academic administrator, coach and athlete. A native of Reserve Mines, MacNeil, 84, passed away on Thursday.

“I just saw Connie in church last week and he was his normal, cheerful self,” said Nova Scotian sports historian Burton Russell, a lifelong friend of MacNeil. “And to suddenly hear he’s gone, I’m just shocked. But he sure had a great life and a great influence on so many people.Read more »

Posted on Posted in Alumni News

Character, experience key for LU men

By Ben Leeson, Sudbury Star

Craig Duncanson is the new head coach of the men's hockey team at Laurentian University. JOHN LAPPA/THE SUDBURY STAR/QMI AGENCY

Craig Duncanson is the new head coach of the men’s hockey team at Laurentian University. JOHN LAPPA/THE SUDBURY STAR/QMI AGENCY

While building the first Laurentian University men’s hockey team in 13 years, head coach Craig Duncanson has focused as much on what’s between prospective players’ ears and inside their chests as on what they can do with their hands and feet.

“We have recruited extensively and surrounded ourselves with as many quality ju nior players as possible, guys who have been captains in leagues across Ontario and a few from out west and from Quebec,” Duncanson said. “These are leaders, captains and that’s how we’re trying to create that culture, by adding good character people.Read more »

Posted on Posted in Alumni News
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22 April 2013 Last updated at 10:49 GMT

Nottingham Panthers: Brandon Benedict re-signs

Nottingham Panthers import forward Brandon Benedict has signed a new contract to stay with the treble-winning side for a third season.

Benedict, 30, who joined the Panthers in 2011 from Belfast, played 65 games in Nottingham’s Elite League, Challenge Cup and play-off triumphs last term.

Coach Corey Neilson, who recently signed a contract extension, said retaining the Canadian is a major coup.

“He was a primary target for us,” Neilson revealed.Read more »

Posted on Posted in Team Stories

StFX’s Beukeboom and Acadia’s Clark to represent AUS at BLG Awards
18/04/2012 10:20 am

andrew_clark_CIS_award2012CALGARY (CIS) – Canadian Interuniversity Sport and national law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) announced Wednesday the eight finalists for the 20th Annual BLG Awards.

The BLG Awards were established in 1993 to recognize the top female and male athletes from universities affiliated with CIS.
On Monday, April 30, the eight national nominees will be honoured, with one female and one male winner receiving a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship in front of more than 1,000 guests at the EPCOR Centre’s Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary.

Read more »

Posted on Posted in Team Stories
  • story courtesy of the Daily Observer – Valley Pulpit 11 Jan 2013
  • REV. TERRY BURNS Terry Burns is the Pastor of Pembroke Pentecostal Tabernacle. comments are welcome at thevalleypulpit@gmail.com.

Rev. Terry Burns and his brother Darren (head coach of the Acadia Axemen) weigh in on Canada being shut out of the medals at the world juniors over the Christmas break. On Thursday morning last week, I bounded from my bed, ran to the TV room like a child waking up on Christmas day and expected to hear of a decisive Team Canada win over the U.S. as I tuned in to TSN. I couldn’t believe my eyes, there it was: U.S. 5, Canada 1. And then another heartbreak, a loss to Russia! I have been following just about every major media network in Canada since then and have just about hurled as I have read the online comments from sports fans chirping in on the “whys” for the loss.Read more »

Posted on Posted in Alumni News

T.J. Colello Published on January 01, 2013

Glace Bay defenceman has skated for Klagenfurt AC the past five seasons

SYDNEY — Kirk Furey has had a long, professional hockey career. He’s played at a few levels in North America and has skated in Europe for the past nine seasons, so you would think he’s seen it all.

fureyThat was until he skated alongside 6-8, 227-pound Buffalo Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers.
“He’s probably the tallest guy I’ve ever played with and bar none the best skater for a guy that big,” said the 36-year-old blue-liner from Glace Bay. “He’s unbelievable. He’s like a gazelle out there.“Personally, I don’t know if you’ll ever see a guy skate like that again at that size. I’ve been away a long time and I watch NHL games on television. I remember watching him in his first year and saying to myself ‘Oh my God,’ but to play with him, he can skate.”Read more »

Posted on Posted in Team Stories
Dec 17, 2012 -story courtesy of David Salter – thepacket.caphoto_2015046_resize_articleAcadia coach Darren Burns speaks in glowing terms when discussing the Newfoundland triumvirate wearing Axemen colours in the Atlantic Universities Hockey Conference (AUHC) this season.

Defenceman Chris Owens of St. John’s is regarded as one of the conference’s best players, goaltender Evan Mosher of Conception Bay South has struggled but still has a fan in Burns, and freshman Travis Randell has exceeded expectations.

Owens, in his third year with the Wolfville, Nova Scotia program, was off to an MVP-type season until Nov. 30th when he was sidelined indefinitely with a concussion by a dirty hit that resulted in a 12-game suspension for the University of Prince Edward Island perpetrator. Apparently, UPEI’s Mason Wilgosh skated in from the blueline to check Owens who had just dished off a pass behind his team’s net and was looking the other way. The suspension is very significant considering AUHC teams only play a 28-game schedule.Read more »