X-Men lose back-to-back against Acadia
The StFX X-Men dropped their 11th one-goal game of the season, losing 1-0 to the AUS league leading and CIS No. 6 Acadia Axemen Sunday afternoon in Antigonish, N.S. Goaltender Evan Mosher played a solid 60 minutes for the Axemen, making 23 saves en route to the shutout victory.
The Axemen earned another close win over the X-Men just this past Friday with a 4-3 win in Wolfville, N.S.
Coming into today’s game the two teams were evenly matched and the first period saw both teams playing sound, hard, physical hockey that resulted in a scoreless first period. StFX forward Bryce Swan was a physical force finishing with five hits in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The wheels fell under the X-Men truck in the second period however, as the blue and white took too many penalties which resulted in StFX goaltender Joey Perricone having to make several stops on quality Axemen scoring chances just to keep his team in the game. At the 10:38 mark of the second frame StFX defenseman Derek Claffey gave the puck away in front of his own goal to league leading scorer Andrew Clark, who made no mistake beating Perricone. Assists went to Liam Heelis and Michael Ward. The score remained 1-0 after two periods of play for the Axemen.
StFX found their legs again in the third period and controlled much of the tempo. The X-Men peppered the Acadia netminder, outshooting the Axemen 10-3 in the final period, but were continually denied by Mosher. Scott Brannon had a key opportunity to tie the game for StFX when he fanned on a one timer that had eyes for the back of the net. The X-Men pulled their own goaltender in the dying minute of the game but the Axemen were able to hang on for the slim 1-0 win.
Evan Mosher was named the Subway Player of the Game for the Axemen as he recorded the shutout victory with 23 saves in the Axemen net. StFX held a slight shot advantage over Acadia at 23-22. Joey Perricone played a sound game in nets for the X-Men, making 21 saves and earning honors as the third star of the game. The lone goal scorer in the match, Andrew Clark was the second star.
With the two losses this weekend, the X-Men drop to 6-12-3 on the season and currently sit in sixth place in the AUS conference with 15 points, only one point ahead of seventh place Dalhousie as the fight for the final playoff spot officially begins.
The Axemen improve to 15-6-1 and with the UNB Varsity Reds dropping two weekend games, Acadia moves into sole possession of first place with 31 points, one up on both the CIS ranked No. 1 Varsity Reds (14-5-2) and the No. 7 Aigles Bleus de Moncton (15-6-0). The Axemen, V-Reds and Aigles Bleus have clinched AUS playoff berths, as have the fourth place Saint Mary’s Huskies (13-7-2). UPEI (13-8-0) is in fifth place, 11 points ahead of the X-Men.
StFX will resume play on Friday, January 27th when they host Moncton at the StFX Keating Centre, followed by a Saturday game against the eighth place St. Thomas Tommies (3-15-3). Game times both evenings is 7:00 pm. The Axemen will hit the road for upcoming games against UNB and UPEI.