Undershute fires shootout winner over Huskies

The X-Men hockey team avenged a 6-5 loss to Saint Mary’s in the final regular season game before the holiday break with a 5-4 shootout victory Friday night in Truro, NS in exhibition play over the same Huskies squad.

Kevin Undershute fired the shootout winner for the X-Men in the win over the CIS ranked No. 8 Huskies.

The X-Men held a 4-2 lead late in the game but Saint Mary’s had come back to the tie the game with two third period goals as Chris MacKinnon scored on the power play at 18:12 and Cory Tanaka scored at 19:28 to send the game into overtime, as the Huskies had an extra attacker on the ice.  

After overtime solved nothing, Undershute’s shootout marker that got past Huskies goaltender Neil Conway was the decider. Conway shared netminding duties with Anthony Peters, who played the first period and a half of the game.

The Huskies opened the scoring at 12:40 of the first period as Michael Strickland scored a shorthanded goal from Colby Pridham and Justin Wallingford.

StFX defenceman R.D. Chisholm tipped in a puck directed on the net while on the power play 3:10 into the second period to tie the game. Bryce Swan and Brett Morrison assisted on the play.

Strickland scored his second of the game 59 seconds later to give the Huskies back their one goal advantage, but X-Men forward Scott Brannon tied it up before the second period would end. Brannon’s goal came at 17:18 from Undershute and Michael Kirkpatrick.

The X-Men came out of the third period gate firing as Bryce Swan scored 58 seconds in to give the X-Men their first lead of the game at 3-2. Jason Bast picked up the assist.

Freshman forward Brett Frazee from down the road in Avondale, NS scored his first goal of the 2011-12 AUS season on a breakaway at 4:40 to extend the X-Men lead to 4-2. Brennen Wray assisted on the play. The two goal lead held until MacKinnon’s power play marker late in the period and Tanaka’s subsequent tying goal with 32 seconds left in the game.

The X-Men outshot the Huskies 40-31 and Joey Perricone picked up 27 saves in net for the win.

StFX will play another exhibition game on Monday night when they travel to Berwick, NS to take on the Acadia Axemen. Acadia picked up a 4-2 exhibition win over St. Thomas last night.