Tough losses for hockey Axemen
Acadia sits in fourth place in AUS standings after weekend play
The Panthers put up five goals in the second period to overpower the Acadia Axemen 5-1 in the first of two road games this past weekend.
With only their second win in their last 10 games, the Panthers remain in a playoff hunt with several teams in the chase and only three weeks remaining in the regular season.
The Panthers (6-16-1) were on the attack early, but an errant pass by Alex Mcquaid cost them. Marc Mcnulty picked him off in the neutral zone and found Stephen Harper in the left circle, who roofed it to give the Axemen a quick 1-0 edge, but that was the only scoring of the night for Acadia.
In the Axemen’s second road trip game of the weekend, Cam Brace and Chris Clapperton each scored twice to lead the UNB Varsity Reds to a 6-0 victory over the visiting Acadia Axemen on Jan. 20.
Alex Dubeau stopped all 15 shots he faced, while Robert Steeves gave up all six goals, on 37 shots, in the Acadia net.
“It doesn’t feel good,” said Axemen forward Sam Fioretti. “This is a team that’s won the last two national championships and they’re at the top of the standings and nationally ranked, so it’s a team that you compare yourself to and, come March, you want to be better than, so when you come out with a 6-0 loss, you’re not going to be happy with the result.”
The Axemen were without a number of regulars and dressed just 15 skaters.
“You can look back and make excuses with us being shortbenched, but I think it’s more important for us to look at things that we did wrong,” said Fioretti. “Obviously, we weren’t hard enough to play against tonight.”
In a chippy affair, both teams combined to go 0-for-13 on the power-play.
The Varsity Reds have now won five straight and remain atop the Atlantic University Sport standings with a 20-1-3 record. The Axemen sit fourth, with a record of 15-7-2.