Stingy Axemen look to stymie X-Men
Acadia hosting St. F.X. Feb. 17 in hockey quarter-final
The Acadia Axemen must stay out of the penalty box if they want to play in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) hockey semifinal.
The Axemen began their best-of-three quarter-final with the St. F.X. X-Men Feb. 15 in Antigonish. Results were unavailable at press time. Game 2 goes Friday, Feb. 17, in Wolfville.
“There’s no question the power play is their forte,” Axemen head coach Darren Burns said of the X-Men before Game 1. “They’ve always had some high-end offensive guys and this year is no different.”
St. F.X. finished second in the conference with 115 goals and has the top-three point producers in Liam Hawel, Jacob Hudson and Matthew Struthers.
Burns said Acadia can’t play a run-and-gun game with St. F.X. and must play to its identity.
“That’s getting pucks in, forechecking and being stingy defensively. Those are things we’ve got to do. It’s a must,” he said. “We can’t sit back on our heels either. That’s a recipe for disaster. …
“We have to get up ice and pressure.”
Conor McCollum was scheduled to start Game 1 in the Acadia crease.
“Both guys have worked very hard and battled hard for us,” Burns said. “We’re going to need top-notch goaltending, there’s no question.”
Acadia has dealt with injuries all year and will be without forward Bailey Peach, who is out after blocking a shot. Forward Liam Kidney exited the Feb. 10 game and didn’t play the last regular season game. His status was not clear on Feb. 13.
Acadia (11-16-2-1) finished fifth in the seven-team conference while St. F.X. (16-13-1-0) is the fourth seed. UPEI (3) and Moncton (6) are playing in the other semifinal while top-ranked UNB and second-place Saint Mary’s earned first-round byes.
The Axemen completed the regular season with 4-3 win over the Dalhousie Tigers on home ice on Feb. 10 and a 4-2 loss at St. F.X. on Feb. 11.
Cole Nagy had two goals and an assist to lead Acadia to victory over Dalhousie. Matt McKim and Brendan Sellan also scored. Corson Hopwo and Keegan Stevenson
each had two helpers while Nick Deakin-Poot contributed one. McCollum made 15 saves for the win.
Peyton Hoyt scored both goals against the X-Men while Hudson Wilson, Zack
Jones, Morgan Nauss and Sellan each chipped in an assist. Zachary Paputsakis made 29 saves in the loss.
SWIMMING
Acadia’s Gordon Shortt, a
third-year business student from Simcoe, Ont., was named the AUS male swimmer of the year.
At the AUS Swimming Championship in St. John’s, N.L., he won the 50-metre breaststroke in 28.53, the 200-m IM in 2:01.71 and the 100-m breaststroke in 1:03.20.
Sophie Rooney, a kinesiology student from Halifax, was named AUS female rookie of the year. She was also named Subway rookie of the meet on the women's side of the AUS championship.
Rooney won the 100-m backstroke in 1:01.93 over teammate Grace Earle, who finished in 1:04.69. She won the 50-m backstroke in 29.50, ahead of Kassidy Hamilton (29.60), and the 200-m backstroke in 2:13.62.
Dean Sangster won the 100-m backstroke in 55.74, ahead of teammate Aaron Day (56.63), and the 200-m backstroke in 2:00.52, ahead of Day (2:06.36).
Elizabeth Morrison won the 50-m breaststroke in 33.05, Hamilton was victorious in the 100-m butterfly in 1:03.32 and Ella Collins won the 100-m breaststroke in 1:12.48. Shane Kenny claimed the 100-m butterfly in 54.87 and the 50-m butterfly in 24.32.
The Acadia team of Rooney, Morrison, Hamilton and Earle won the 400-m medley relay in 4:19.03. The squad of Sangster, Shortt, Kenny and Bo StokesburyPrice won the 400-m freestyle relay in 3:45.44 and the 400-m freestyle relay in 3:22.99. The team of Sangster, Stokesbury-Price, Adam Deutsch and Shortt won the 800-m freestyle relay in 7:31.84.
Acadia finished second to Dalhousie in both the women’s and men’s team standings.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Haley McDonald had 32 points to pace the Axewomen to a 90-67 win over the X-Women.
Sandy Saunders scored 13 points in the win while Bianca Helmig contributed 11 and Samantha Russell chipped in 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal off the bench.
Acadia, which held 33-18, 56-38 and 78-53 quarter leads, won its fifth straight game to improve to 14-3 while St. F.X. is 3-15.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
David Muenkat and Gatluak James each scored 20 points to pace the conferenceleading X-Men to 95-74 Feb. 11 in Wolfville in men’s basketball.
Alex Muise had 18 points in his last home game with the Axemen while Demeric Mercer added 12.
St. F.X., which held 2820, 55-30 and 77-51 quarter leads, improved to 15-3 while Acadia is 3-15.
VOLLEYBALL
The Axewomen volleyball team came home with a pair of five-match victories from Fredericton, N.B.
They beat the UNB Reds 3-2 (25-27, 25-18, 25-18, 18-25, and 16-14) on Feb. 10 and 3-2 (16-25, 16-25, 28-26, 25-8, 15-12) on Feb. 11.
Statistics were not available for the first match. Taylor Witty had 13 kills on Feb. 11 while Sydney Zakutney contributed 10. Rebecca Dorsey had 36 digs while Zakutney and Witty had 22 and 21, respectively.
Third-place Acadia improved to 13-4, 10 points up on UNB (8-10).