MenÕs Hockey preview: StFX vs. DAL, February 8th

February 7, 2012

Dalhousie Tigers: 7-15-3 record with 17 points - 7th place in AUS conference

StFX X-Men: 7-14-4 record with 18 points - 6th place in AUS conference

Season Series: X-Men have a 2-0 record over Tigers this season, they won by scores of 7-2 and 5-3

Key Dalhousie Players:
Benjamin Breault: 8 goals, 17 assists, 25 points in 23 games. 13th in AUS conference scoring
David MacDonald: 7 goals, 12 assists, 19 points in 24 games. 5th amongst AUS defenseman scoring
Pierre-Alexandre Vandall: 5 goals, 14 assists, 19 points in 20 games

Key X-Men Players:
Jason Bast: 16 goals, 13 assists, 29 points in 25 games. 4th in AUS conference scoring
Michael Kirkpatrick: 12 goals, 12 assists, 24 points in 25 games. 15th in AUS conference scoring
Bryce Swan: 10 goals, 13 assists, 23 points in 24 games. 17th in AUS conference scoring

Goaltending Matchup:
Tigers: Wendell Vye: 4.75 GAA and .852 save percentage with record of 4 wins, 9 losses, 0 overtime losses
X-Men: Joey Perricone: 3.91 GAA and .870 save percentage with record of 5 wins, 14 losses, 0 overtime losses

Game Notes:
X-Men head coach Brad Peddle: “We are going to have to play 200 feet of the ice, and play on our toes. It is very important against a good Dalhousie team that we establish the fore check early and come out of the gate with a fast start.”

X-Men forward Scott Brannon will be serving a one game suspension for an incident in last Saturday’s matchup against St. Thomas.

StFX is first in the conference in power play percentage and second in power play goals.

Since Dalhousie’s Pete Belliveau stepped down as head coach of the Tigers in December and Chris Donnelly took over, the Tigers have gone 5-4-2 in 2012, riding an 11-game losing streak before the New Year.