Zack Jones with the lone Acadia goal

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB REDS scored four consecutive goals in a 4-1 win over the Acadia Axemen in the 32nd annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial Game, Saturday night at UNB’s Aitken Centre. 

Macauley Carson (Midhurst, ON), Sean McGurn (Ottawa, ON), Michael Petizian (Mississauga, ON), and Kale McCallum (Rothesay, NB) scored for the REDS as they extended their undefeated streak to 26 games. 

Austin Keating (Guelph, ON), who was presented with the prestigious Mark Jeffrey Memorial Scholarship prior to the game, recorded two assists and was named Tim Horton’s Player of the Game. 

“It’s a huge honour,” said Keating, of being the recipient of the Jeffrey Scholarship. “He meant so much to this program, we have stuff all over the room honouring him, and we talk about him often, about the type of person he was.” 

“He was a player’s player, is what we call him,” Keating added. “The people who come into our locker room, that’s the type of guys we want. Someone like him. Being able to receive an award like that is a great honour.” 

The REDS wasted no time establishing their dominance in the opening period.  

“It was a great effort,” said Keating. “We started out a little slow, and they were coming at us a little bit, especially in the first five or ten minutes. But once we got our feet under us, we started taking it to them.” 

Brady Gilmour (Grafton, ON) had the REDS’ closest opportunity of the period, on the powerplay, receiving a pass from Keating, forcing Axemen goaltender, Zachary Paputsakis (Rockland, ON), to dive cross-crease, saving the puck with his stick paddle.  

The second period began, and so did the REDS scoring. 

Carson and McGurn, less than two minutes apart, scored off rebounds at 8:00 and 9:48.  

“I think Carson’s goal was huge for us,” Keating added. “Sam made some big stops when we needed it, and we grabbed momentum from there.” 

Petizian finished the period’s scoring frenzy by getting his stick on a pass from Keating, re-directing the puck under the crossbar with less than a minute left in the period. 

Leading 3-0, the REDS maintained their strong offence into the final frame. 

At 7:24, the Axemen made a goaltending change after an injury to Paputsakis. Thomas Couture (Lévis, QC) took his place in the crease. 

Paputsakis faced 37 REDS shots, saving 34. 

With a pass from Keating from behind the goal line, McCallum lasered a one-timer from his knee, landing the REDS’ fourth goal at 10:40, on the powerplay. 

Zach Jones (North Falmouth, MA), with just 17 seconds left on the clock, found his way past the REDS defenders. His shot beat REDS goaltender Samual Richard (Ste. Catherine, QC), blocker side, and rolled into the net. 

Richard stopped 17 shots for the REDS. 

“I thought it was a great team effort and a great weekend,” said Keating. “We’re looking to keep it rolling.” 

The Axemen are now in sixth place in the Atlantic University Sport standings with an 8-13-1-3 (W-L-OTL-SOL) record. 

UNB is 26-0-0-0. 

The REDS return to action Friday, in Antigonish, facing off against the STFX X-Men. Game time is 7:00pm. 

Acadia returns home for a Wednesday night game against the Saint Mary’s Huskies. Puck drop at 7:00pm. 

 

RECAP BY: Madison Tucker/for UNB Athletics 

PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics 

Deakin-Poot scores two in win

The Acadia University Axemen (8-13-1-3=20pts, 6th position) scored two quick goals in a span of 27 seconds midway through the first period to defeat the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (13-9-3-0=29pts, 2nd position) 5-1 on Friday night in an Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey game at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena in front of more than 670 spectators. 

The Saint Mary’s University Huskies (13-11-1-0=27pts, 3rd place) will be the visitors on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the same venue against the Aigles Bleus. The Axemen are in Fredericton to meet the UNB Reds.  

Cole Nagy on the power play on a hard shot in front of the net at 10:02 and Nick Deakin-Poot at 10:29 gave the visitors a 2-0 lead in the first. Charles-Edouard Drouin cut that lead to 2-1 midway through the second period, but Deakin-Poot, the game’s first star, with his second of the game at 15:05 gave his team a 3-1 lead before the end of the period. Peyton Hoyt at 2:15 and Adam McMaster 6 minutes later also found the back of the net in the third to secure the win for the visitors.  

Thomas Couture, the 3rd star, stopped 24 shots for the win in net and Olivier Adam had 24 in the loss. Acadia was 1-for-3 on the power play and Moncton was 0-for-6. 

The game was not the best for the Aigles Bleus as the Axemen managed to annihilate several of the Blue and Gold’s attacks. It was Moncton’s 3rd straight loss and Acadia’s 2nd win.  

People can purchase tickets for Saturday’s game during the day at the CEPS Louis-J.-Robichaud reception desk or one hour before the start of the game at the arena box office. 

2024/01/26 

Photo Normand A. Léger 

Burns nets the 3rd period game winner

WOLFVILLE – Acadia’s three-game losing skid came to an end on Saturday night as they beat the StFX X-Men 3-2 in front of 1,326 fans at Andrew H McCain Arena in Wolfville.  

The hero on the night was Brady Burns (Port Williams, NS) who scored the game-winning goal 3:55 into the third period on the power play. With the goal he has seven on the year, trailing only Bailey Peach (Falmouth, NS) in goals. Burns still leads Acadia in points with 21 over 24 games.  

The Axemen opened the scoring 2:07 into the game, with Brendan Sellan (Bolton, ON) taking a pass from goaltender Thomas Couture (Levis, QC). Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, SK) made it 2-0 before StFX’s Zack Trott (Mulmur, ON) cut into the lead before the end of the period.  

Trott’s power play goal made it 2-1 after 20.   

Jacob Hudson (Antigonish, NS) tied the game 2-2 midway through the second period, where the score stood heading into the final frame.  

In the victory Couture made 37 stops, while Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) made 28 saves in the loss.  

StFX will host Dalhousie on Wednesday night in Antigonish before travelling to Charlottetown to battle the Panthers on Friday. For the Axemen, they’re on the road for a Friday night tilt in Moncton against the Aigles Bleus before facing the first place UNB Reds on Saturday in Fredericton.  

Moncton and UNB both have clinched playoff berths, while Acadia is currently four points ahead of Dalhousie for the final playoff spot in the AUS.  

Axemen fire 58 shots on net in loss

(Halifax, NS) – The Dalhousie Tigers beat the Acadia Axemen 5-3 Friday night at the Halifax Forum. 

 

After going down 3-0 in the first period, the Tigers rallied back off the efforts of Robbie Forbes (Oakville, NS) who made 55 saves and took home player of the game. 

 

23 seconds into the game, Acadia went onto the power play, but despite a Brady Burns (Port WIlliams, NS) shot that made it through traffic, which Forbes managed to get enough of his stick on it, the Axemen were kept at bay on the man advantage. 

 

After Dalhousie kept Acadia in their own end for a shift, the Axemen went on a full team break, and Hudson Wilson (Toronto, ON) put his second goal of the season past Forbes for the first of the game. 

 

A minute later an Acadia defenceman chipped the puck off of the glass, and Cole Nagy (Saskatoon, SK) beat the defenceman to the puck, went on a two on one with Ethan Ernst, and found Ernst who buried the goal. 

 

Dalhousie went on the power play, but after being left off the scoreboard for two minutes, 34 went on a breakaway, and made a heads up play to leave it in front of the crease for 23 who knocked it past Forbes. 

 

The Tigers gained momentum after Evan MacKinnon (Beaverbank, NS) hung onto the puck on a two on one, outwaited the Acadia defenceman and fed Derek Gentile (Sydney, NS) who sniped bardown. 

 

Dalhousie cut the lead to one heading into the second period after Drew Johnston (Saint John, NB) forced the defenceman to turn the puck over to Joseph Serpa (Cambridge, ON) whose shot bounced off the pad of Thomas Couture (Lévis, QC) to Shaun Miller (Enfield, NS), who put it into the back of the net.  

 

The Tigers wasted no time out of the new period tying things up. 

 

Dalhousie held a power play early in the new period, and less than a minute into the period, Jarett Baker’s (Black Rock, NS) shot from the point was tipped by Serpa, and ended up in the net. 

 

30 seconds later, before the announcer could make the crowd aware of the prior goal, the Tigers took the lead, when Barret Kirwin (Barrie, ON) sniped a shot from the top of the right hand circle past Couture far side. 

 

Acadia almost scored the equalizer, when Zack Jones (North Falmouth, Maine) shook Jackson Van de Leest (Kelowna, BC), drove into the crease,  but was taken down by the DAL defenders. 

 

Once the period finished, Dalhousie was headed into the last period up 4-3. 

 

Both teams worked themselves into the new period, and Acadia had a good chance when Tyler Deline’s (Peterberough, ON) point shot sprung out to an Acadian forward, but he shot it through the crease. 

 

WIth six minutes left in the game Acadia went on the power play, and despite seven shots on the man advantage, Dalhousie kept the puck out of their net. 

 

Out of the power play Acadia pulled their goalie, but they were not able to find the equalizer, as Serpa scored his second of the night to end the game 5-3. 

 

The Axemen will travel back home tomorrow to welcome STFX to Wolfville, and Dalhousie will cross Robie St. to take on Saint Mary’s. 

 

RECAP BY: Ethan Hunt 

PHOTOS BY: Nick Pearce