Acadia locks in playoff spot despite losses

In a battle of U SPORTS top 10 ranked teams, the No. 2 St FX X-men defeated the No. 7 Acadia Axemen by a 4-1 score Jan. 24 in Antigonish.

After exchanging first period goals, the X-men netted two in the second period and held on for the win.

It was the Axemen who opened the scoring in the game off a Boston Leier first-period goal. The X-men replied with a power play marker with 1:19 left in the opening period

In a fairly evenly matched first period, the visiting Axemen held an 11-9 shot advantage.

The X-men scored two goals in the second period, despite being outshot 10-4. The X-men’s final goal of the evening came on the power play at 16:21 of the third period. Chase Marchand, with 33 saves on the night, picked up his leagueleading 15th win of the season. Acadia’s Robert Steeves turned aside 18 pucks as the Axemen outshot the home squad 34-22.

The Axemen struggled on their power play opportunities, going 0-for-10 on the night.

In the Axemen’s second game this past week, the Dalhousie Tigers defeated the Acadia Axemen 6-2 in a game that was defined and dictated by penalties.

In the first period, Dalhousie got the first goal when Jonathan Cyr (Ottawa, ON) collected a loose puck, cut across the slot and put a backhand into the net at 2:28 to make it 1-0. The seemingly endless string of penalties started in the first period and didn’t waiver, with 10 infractions called in the first period and 21 called in the game. The first ended with a 1-0 Tigers lead.

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead on a Josh Worthen goal at 3:14 on the powerplay, but Acadia struck back when Rodney Southam netted the puck on the man-advantage to narrow the Dalhousie lead to 2-1.

The Tigers would regain the two goal lead on a Mike Evelyn powerplay goal at 14:04 in the second frame.

The Axemen quickly narrowed the lead in the opening of the final period, when Ryan Foss got the puck after it hit the leg of an Acadia player and put a wrist shot in from the slot at 2:01 to close the Dalhousie lead to 3-2.

Dalhousie responded when Colton Heffley unleashed a slapshot from the point, through traffic, into the net at 7:39 on a five-on-three powerplay to put the Tigers ahead 4-2.

Dalhousie padded their lead on goals by Alex Pawelczyk and Heffley’s empty netter at 18:44 to seal the win.

The Axemen outshot the Tigers 29-26. Corbin Boes made 27 saves for the Tigers, while Robert Steeves stopped 20 shots for the Axemen. Drew Lawson played the last minute and 10 seconds in goal for Acadia.

The Axemen hope to end a four game losing streak that began with a loss to unranked UPEI on Jan. 19. Acadia has four games remaining in the regular season that include two games this weekend, beginning with UPEI on Feb. 2 and UNB on Feb. 3. The Axemen clinched a playoff berth last week and sit fourth in the AUS conference standings with a 15-9-2 record.

Courtesy Krista Mckenna, STFX Sports Information.