X-Men win 4th Keating Cup title

The X-Men hockey team successfully defended their Keating Cup title this weekend, closing out the two-game challenge with a 3-2 win over the Carleton Ravens in Game 2 Sunday afternoon in Antigonish.

The X-Men had won Game 1 the previous day by a 5-2 score though Game 2 proved to be a closer affair as X-Men head coach Brad Peddle came out on top of the battle of X-Men hockey alumni over Ravens head coach Fred Parker. The win marked the fourth consecutive Keating Cup title for the X-Men, the only team to win the annual tournament since it began in 2006.

“We were very pleased to capture our fourth consecutive Keating Cup as it has become an important holiday tradition at StFX and one we look forward to competing for each year,” commented X-Men head coach Brad Peddle.

“It was a hard fought game today and Carleton provided some good competition as we head into the second half stretch. We moved the puck well and we were pleased with the overall effort and intensity our guys came with after a long break.”

The hometown X-Men opened the scoring in the game as Brett Morrison scored a first period goal 13 minutes and 49 seconds into the game. He skated across the crease and beat Ravens netminder Ryan Dube, banging the puck in high. Brett Robertson and Sean Donovan assisted on the play. The X-Men closed out the first period with the 1-0 lead and a slight edge in shots at 8-7.

The second period of play proved to be a battle of special teams as the X-Men racked up 15 minutes in penalty calls, along with a game misconduct to Rob Warner for checking to the head and a 10-minute misconduct penalty to Brennan Wray. The Ravens served up 10 minutes in the sin bin and also had a couple of 5-on-3 power play opportunities.

They made good on their first 5 on 3 advantage as Justin Caruana scored the Ravens first goal of the game and his second in as many days. Robert Mark Smith and Christian Bordeau-Mifflen were credited with the assists.

After spending most of the latter half of the second period in the penalty box, the X-Men were able to salvage the period with a late goal as Stephen Simms’ shot from the top of the circle found the corner of the Ravens net with only a second left on the clock. Murdock MacLellan and Kevin Undershute assisted.

The X-Men held onto the slim 2-1 lead up until 13:29 of the third period when Brandon MacLean (Brad Good, Ryan Berard) evened the score with a power play goal for the Ravens. The X-Men had their own power play chance with five minutes left in the game but could not convert on the man advantage.

With just over three minutes left in the game, X-Men regular season leading scorer Bryce Swan scored the game winning goal on a shot from the slot as Chris Hulit and Spencer McAvoy provided the assists.

The X-Men would have to battle for the win right to the end, however, as a late X penalty call with just over one minute left wound up being a 6-on-4 advantage for the Ravens as they pulled their goalie Ryan Dube. StFX was able to hang on and stave off the final Carleton attack and Bryan Gillis earned the win with 28 saves. The X-Men were outshot by the Ravens 30-23. 

The exhibition action helps prepare the X-Men to jump back into AUS regular season play which begins this weekend with a pair of games at the StFX Keating Centre. Friday night the fourth place X-Men (7-5-2) will host the seventh place (3-8-3) Dalhousie Tigers, while on Saturday night the second place Acadia Axemen (11-3-0) will be in town. Both games start at 7:00 pm.

The X-Men are 1-1 against the Tigers in first term action, as they earned a 4-2 win at home and had a 6-4 loss in Halifax. They are 0-2 against the Axemen with a 4-3 overtime loss at Wolfville and a 4-3 loss in Antigonish.