Mang-nificent Effort

Phil Mangan scores hat trick in 3-2 OT win

Second year X-Men center Phil Mangan scored a natural hat trick, leading the X-Men to a 3-2 come-from-behind win in overtime over the CIS ranked No. 4 Acadia Axemen Saturday night at the StFX Keating Centre.

Mangan scored the game winner 1:05 into the overtime period, knocking a rebound past Acadia netminder Kristofer Westblom. Nick Pageau and Bryce Swan assisted on the game winning goal.

The X-Men were down 2-0 in the game after two periods of play and Mangan led the third period charge, scoring all three StFX goals.

The Axemen opened the scoring in the game with a first period power play goal scored at the 4:36 minute mark off the stick of Jonathan Laberge (Paul McFarland, Philippe Bertran) after some quick passing plays.

The X-Men and goaltender Bryan Gillis did well to hold off the Axemen in the first period as they outshot the blue and white 20-2 and had three power play opportunities.

Acadia built on their lead with another power play goal scored by Ryan Graham (Nathan Welton, Scott Tregunna) at 12:01. Graham fired the puck into the open net past a sliding Gillis who had no chance on the play.

The X-Men were unable to convert on a four minute man-advantage prior to the Acadia goal, and were shut down on two more power play chances in the second frame. Shots were 9-8 in favor of StFX, who couldn’t beat Westblom after 40 minutes of play.

The X-Men finally broke the goose egg as Mangan netted his first goal of the game just 2:29 into the third period, banging in a rebound after StFX pressure in front of the Axemen net. Brett Morrison and Tyson Aitcheson assisted.

Mangan tied the game at 8:06, again finding the back of the net after a scramble in front of Westblom. Morrison picked up his second assist on the goal.

The Axemen were close to scoring the go-ahead goal on a third period power play but the X-Men held strong and Gillis played well in the StFX net, picking up 9 more saves in the third period. He had a total of 35 saves in the game for the win as the Axemen outshot the X-Men 37-21.

Gillis earned second star recognition for his efforts between the pipes for StFX while Mangan was the first star and Subway Player of the Game. Acadia’s Jonathan Laberge got the nod as the third star.

The X-Men pick up a much needed win as they dropped a 5-2 game to the Dalhousie Tigers on Friday night, also in Antigonish.

The first game back after the holiday break started slow and neither team mounted an offensive attack in the first period and were held scoreless after 20 minutes.

X-Men captain Chris Hulit opened the scoring in the game, beating Tigers goaltender Bobby Nadeau with a high shot over the glove shoulder just 46 seconds into the second period on a shot from the top of the circle. Stephen Sims assisted on the goal.

The Tigers tied the game after Patrick Sweeney (Kyle Raftis) scored on the power play midway through the second period. Spencer McAvoy regained the StFX lead, scoring with 19 seconds left in the period. Hulit and Brett Morrison assisted. Chris Hulit would later leave the game with an injury; he also missed the Acadia game the following night.

The X-Men’s 2-1 lead was quickly erased in the third as Daniel Bartek scored back-to-back goals for the Tigers within the opening two minutes of the final period. The wheels fell off for the X-Men, who allowed two more Dalhousie goals before time expired. Jeff Larsh scored at 11:58 followed by Francois Gauthier at 18:00 as the Tigers earned the 5-2 win.

Bobby Nadeau made 41 saves in the Tigers net for the win, while Joey Perricone took the loss for StFX, who outshot the Tigers by a 43-30 margin. Daniel Bartek was the Subway Player of the Game and first star, while teammate Patrick Sweeney was the second star and X-Men Chris Hulit earned third star honors.

With the 1-1 split on the weekend the X-Men now hold an 8-6-3 record in AUS league play, remaining in fourth place. Next up on the schedule is a road trip to New Brunswick where the X-Men will play 8th place Moncton (3-12-1) on Friday night, followed by a game in Fredericton Saturday night against the 6th place St. Thomas Tommies (5-9-2).

StFX Sports Information