X-Men lose 6-3 in chippy affair to Tommies

The StFX X-Men lost a tough matchup to the St. Thomas Tommies Saturday night in Fredericton, N.B. Intensity between the two teams was very high as a line brawl ensued with less than three minutes to play in the game.

The first period saw both teams trading goals. St. Thomas opened the scoring at the 3:56 mark of the first period when Steve Sanza (Randy Cameron, Jonathan Bonneau) fired one past X-Men goalkeeper Joey Perricone.  StFX forward Brennan Wray, who scored the overtime winner the previous night against Moncton, than answered for the X-Men, scoring with 1:10 remaining in the period to send the game into the first intermission tied 1-1. Scott Brannon and Josh Day picked up assists on the Wray goal.

The second period started out much like the first frame, as the Tommies opened the scoring at the 5:21 mark when Jordan Scott (Felix-Antoine Poulin, Yuri Chermetiev) scored. It wasn’t until the 11:20 mark when the fourth ranked power play in the nation went to work, as Brett Morrison (RD Chisholm, Kevin Undershute) capitalized to tie the game at 2-2. 

The third period was nothing like the first 40 minutes, as the flood gates opened for St. Thomas. The Tommies scored two quick goals at the 1:25 and 8:27 mark from Andrew Andricopoulos (Antoine-Poulin) and Bonneau (Sanza, Antoine-Poulin) to make the score 4-2. Defenseman Nick Pageau (Bryce Swan, Michael Kirkpatrick) got the X-Men to within one goal when he buried one past Charles Lavigne at the 9:32 mark. 

Jonathan Bonneau (Randy Cameron, Chris Van Laren) than took over the game for the X-Men, as he scored two goals less than two minutes apart for a hat trick and his fourth point of the night, increasing the Tommies lead to 6-3. With only 2:36 remaining in the game a line brawl ensued as StFX’s Scott Brannon checked a Tommies player, leading to a huge scrum in front of the X-Men net.

Brannon received a five minute contact to the head penalty, along with a roughing call, the Tommies Andrew Andricopoulos and Kyell Henegan each received 10 minute misconducts along with an additional six minutes in minor penalties.

When all was said and done and the third period play came to end, the Tommies earned the 6-3 win and also outshot the X-Men 32-25. Joey Perricone made 19 saves for the X-Men as Charles Lavigne made 29 saves for the Tommies in a winning effort.  Jonathan Bonneau was the Subway Player of the Game, collecting three goals and one assist in the Tommies victory.

With the 1-1 weekend split, the X-Men (7-14-4) remain in sixth place in the AUS conference with 18 points. The seventh place Dalhousie Tigers (7-15-3) also enjoyed a 1-1 weekend, including a shootout victory over UNB last night, so the point differential remains unchanged in the standings as the X-Men hold a one point advantage on the Tigers with three regular season games remaining.

StFX will host the Tigers in a crucial game this coming Wednesday night, February 8th at the Keating Centre. Puck drop is 7:00 pm. Following Wednesday’s game, the X-Men will host Saint Mary’s (17-7-2) Friday night as Dalhousie travels to Acadia (15-9-2). The Tigers and X-Men then meet again Saturday night in Halifax in what may prove to be the decider on who clinches the final AUS playoff spot, depending upon how the week’s game unveil. None of the AUS playoff positions have been determined as of yet as a mere five points separated first through fifth in the exciting AUS men’s hockey conference.