No. 1 Varsity Reds edge X-Men in overtime

In men’s hockey action Friday night at the StFX Keating Centre, the X-Men lost a close 4-3 game in overtime to the CIS No. 1 ranked UNB Varsity Reds.

The X-Men held a 3-2 lead late in the third period before Luke Gallant scored the tying goal for UNB at 15:34 in the third period on a screen play shot from the point that blinded StFX netminder Bryan Gillis.

Alex Aldred was the overtime hero for the Varsity Reds, knocking a loose puck into the X-Men net after UNB was pressuring in the X zone. The game winning goal was scored 2:14 into overtime.

The X-Men had opened the game with a 2-0 lead with goals by Chris Hulit and Brannen Wray. Hulit jumped on a rebound in front of UNB netminder Travis Fullerton and scored at the 14:02 mark of the first period, while Wray’s goal came at 3:04 of the second on a deflection from a Matthew Bragg shot.

UNB would tie the game at 2-2 by the time the second intermission hit as they scored consecutive power play goals off the sticks of hunter Tremblay and Kyle Bailey.

Brett Morrison gave the X-Men a 3-2 lead with an early third period goal, which held until the Gallant goal, forcing overtime.

Fullerton earned the win in nets for the Varsity Reds, making 20 saves while Gillis took the loss for the X-Men. UNB outshot StFX by a 41-23 margin. Gillis was named the third star in the game, StFX’s Chris Hulit was the second star and Hunter Tremblay earned first star honors.

The CIS No. 9 ranked X-Men garner a point from the overtime loss and will play another home game Saturday night against the UPEI Panthers at 7:00 pm.  

StFX Sports Information