X-Men drop two south of the border

The hockey X-Men travelled to New England this past weekend for a pair of exhibition games against NCAA schools and were faced with an 8-4 loss to the University of New Hapmshire and a 6-1 loss to the University of Massachusetts in Lowell.

Saturday evening in Durham, New Hampshire, the UNH Wildcats scored three goals (two on the power play) within the first five and a half minutes of the game to jump out to an early 3-0 lead against their AUS opponents. Rob Warner scored for StFX at the 19:10 minute mark of the first period, but the Wildcats scored one more before the first frame ended and another just 1:16 into the second period to go up 5-1.  Brett Liscomb scored a power play goal for StFX in the second period though UNH continued thier pressure and the X-Men were unable to keep up. Will Colbert and Brett Robetson rounded out the scoring for X in the third period. Bobby Butler and Phil DeSimone each scored two goals a piece for the Wildcats. X-Men netminder Danny Battochio look the loss with 39 saves as the X-Men were outshot 47-24 in the game.

Sunday afternoon in Lowell, the X-Men again faced a tough opponent in the University of Massachusetts River Hawks and were handed a 6-1 loss. The River Hawks opened with two early first period goals and although Sean Flinn notched the next goal for the X-Men, the River Hawks came right back with two more goals at the 16:05 and 16:51 minute marks in the first period. They added another before the period was out and X was left with a challenging 5-1 deficit after only 20 minutes of play. The River Hawks final goal came late in the third period. Ryan Aschaber made 34 saves in the losing effort for StFX who were outshot by a 40-14 margin in the game.

The X-Men will have the Thanksgiving weekend off then begin AUS regular season competition with a road game Oct. 17 at Dalhousie. They will have thier home opener on Saturday, Oct. 18 when they host the Acadia Axemen at 7:00 pm at the StFX Keating Centre.