Huskies come back to beat X-Men in penalty-filled affair

After opening up the game with a 4-0 lead in the first period, the Saint Mary’s Huskies came back to score six unanswered goals to defeat the StFX X-Men 6-5 in Halifax Wednesday night in a wild penalty-filled affair that took nearly three hours complete.

The X-Men came out of the gates flying and scored the first four goals of the game to get out to an early 4-0 lead. Brett Morrison scored the first two goals for the X-Men, the first coming on the power play at 2:48 from Bryce Swan and Jason Bast assisting. Swan and Jason day assisted on Morrison’s second goal shortly after at 6:42.

A broken pane of glass at the Halifax Forum delayed the play for approximately ten minutes. Bast increased the StFX lead to 3-0 with a goal at 14:36 with Ted Stephens and Jarrad Struthers picking up assists, then Stephens made it 4-0 at 16:53 of the first period while on the power play. Scott Brannon and R.D. Chisholm assisted on the play.

Veteran Huskie Cam Fergus began the comeback for Saint Mary’s with a late first period power play goal. The Huskies then carried the momentum in the second period which they began on the power play. Colby Pridham scored on the man advantage at 1:15, while Shawn O’Donnell notched the third SMU goal at 7:10. 

With seven minor infractions already in the books, a melee broke out in front of the StFX net shortly after the Huskies goal. After all the sticks and gloves were picked up, a total of 74 penalty minutes were assessed to both teams including three 10-minute misconducts to the Huskies and two the X-Men. When all and said and done StFX had a power play opportunity but failed to capitalize.

The rough play continued in the second period with four more minor infractions, followed by a big hit late in the period by StFX defenseman Mark Louis on the Huskies Stephen Johnston. Louis was handed a five minute major and match penalty on the play.

After a long second period, the teams took to the locker room locked at 4-4 for a much needed rest. Shots were 22-17 in favor of the Huskies.

The third period brought about more scoring power on the part of Saint Mary’s as Justin Wallingford scored the go-ahead goal just 1:42 in and Pridham notched his second of the game while shorthanded at 14:35. 

The X-Men tried to mount a comeback but time was not on their side. Bast closed the gap to 6-5 with a late third period goal from Bannon and Spencer McAvoy.

The Huskies outshot the X-Men 33-22 and Cam Fergus earned Subway Player of the Game honors. Neil Conway picked up the win in nets for Saint Mary’s with 17 saves, while Joey Perricone had 27 saves in the loss for the X-Men.

The game also saw the Huskies total 74 penalty minutes and the X-Men 67 as the game finally wrapped up at 9:47 pm, almost three hours after it started.

With the win the Huskies improve to 9-5-1 on the season and currently sit in a tie for second place with Acadia (9-4-1), whom they will play this coming Friday night in Wolfville, NS. The X-Men are in sixth place with a  5-7-3 record as they wrap up AUS play for the first half of the season.

Their next game will be an exhibition match on December 30th in Truro, NS where they will meet the same Huskies squad. They will also travel to Berwick, NS to play the Axemen in an exhibition game on Jan. 2nd. AUS regular season play resumes on January 6th and 7th when StFX travels to UNB and UPEI.