Axemen start new year with two wins
The U SPORTS No. 7 ranked Acadia Axemen hockey team is off to a 2-0 start in 2018, fuelled by a convincing 7-4 win over visiting Moncton Aigles Bleus Jan. 5 and an empty-net goal in a 4-2 win against the No. 6 ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies in Halifax Jan. 6.
In a back-and-forth game, with the Huskies coming back to tie it up twice, the third Axemen lead of the night proved to be too big a hill to climb.
Axemen goaltender Robert Steeves, named the Subway player of the game, made 36 saves for the win.
Mathew Pufahl, Remy Giftopoulos, Sam Fioretti and Taylor Makin scored for Acadia.
Jake Coughler and Calder Brooks responded with goals for the Huskies. Bronson Beaton picked up two assists. Eric Brassard got the start for the Huskies, making 15 saves in the losing cause.
Pufahl put the Axemen on the board just 23 seconds into the game. Newcomer Cristiano Digiacinto and Rodney Southam picked up helpers on the goal.
Coughler tied things up at 1-1 with just over three minutes left in the first period. Beaton and Dylan Diperna had the assists.
Giftopolous made it 2-1 Acadia with a power-play marker 3:32 into the third.
Brooks, assisted by Beaton, pulled Saint Mary’s even again just over a minute later.
Fioretti scored the winner with a shorthanded tally with just under eight-minutes remaining
in regulation time. Boston Leier had the assist.
Taylor Makin slipped one into an empty net to clinch the win with 1:04 left on the clock.
Win at home
Neither the icy aftermath of a winter storm nor the prospect of seeing the entirety of Canada versus Sweden game stopped the Axemen faithful from coming to Wolfville Jan. 5. Those who came for the game were not disappointed
as the Acadia Axemen (12-5-2) grabbed a 7-4 win against the Moncton Aigles Bleu (3-15-2).
The Axemen dominated play for most of the opening period, leading 17-6 in shots and taking a 2-1 lead into the second.
Axemen forward Owen Macdonald fed a tight saucer pass across the ice to Giftopoulos, who lifted the puck into the top right corner of the net to make it 1-0.
Exactly 41 seconds later, the
Axemen doubled their lead when Kyle Farrell took a lead pass from Giftopoulos and ripped a slap shot between the legs of the Moncton goalie to make it 2-0.
The Axemen ran into penalty trouble late in the period, as Aigles Bleu defenseman Jeanfrancois Plante scored on a wrist shot in front of the Axemen net to cut the Acadia lead to 2-1.
Moncton and Acadia trading goals in the second period, with the Axemen holding a 5-4 lead heading into the final frame.
Moncton scored two more goals on the man-advantage in the second, with one coming from Joey Richard in tight and the other coming off a point shot from Plante for his second of the game.
Farrell scored his second of the night when he knocked the puck out of the air and into the Moncton net to make it 3-2.
Farrell added an assist on the power-play when he put the puck back to defenseman Matthew Pufahl who fired a slapshot from the point past Moncton goalie Brandon Thibeau to make it 4-2.
Giftopoulos added his second of the night on the power-play, taking a pass in the slot and burying the puck into the top right corner of the Moncton net to give Acadia a 5-3 lead.
Moncton came within a goal once again near the end of the period when the second star of the game, Vincent Deslauriers, received a penalty shot after being tripped on a partial breakaway.
Deslauriers fired a hard wrist shot that trickled through the Axemen goaltender Dawson Carty cutting the Axemen lead to 5-4 heading into the third.
Acadia added to their lead in the third with goals from Makin and another power-play marker by forward Chance Braid.
Axemen goaltender Dawson Carty turned aside 26 of 30 shots on the night while his Aigles Bleu counterpart Thibeau stopped 39 of 46 shots.
The Axemen host Saint Mary’s Jan. 12 and then travel to Moncton on Jan. 12. Both games start at 7 p.m.