X-Men edge Huskies 3-2 in hockey action

Matthew Bragg scored the game winning goal 10:45 into the third period as the X-Men edged the CIS ranked No. 3 Saint Mary’s Huskies 3-2 Saturday night at the StFX Keating Centre.

Bryce Swan scored the other two goals for StFX and Joey Perricone put in a strong netminding performance with 31 saves on the night as the Huskies outshot the X-Men by a 33-21 margin.

Swan, who leads the X-Men in scoring this season with 17 points, scored his first goal of the game 5:18 into the first period. Linemates Kevin Undershute and Phil Mangan assisted on the play as the X-Men took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Shots were 10-7 in favor of SMU.

Special teams were the difference in the second period as the Huskies capitalized on two power play opportunities. Cody Thornton scored Saint Mary’s first goal of the game just 1:42 into the second frame, one-timing the puck past Perricone on a quick passing play from Cam Fergus and David MacDonald on the man advantage.

Fergus was also in on the Huskies second goal, getting his stick on a screen shot from the point at 9:53. Andrew Hotham and Brad Smith assisted on the play and the Huskies led 2-1 after two periods.

StFX’s tying goal came from Bryce Swan, his second of the game, 3:23 into the third period as he fought his way to the SMU net in a nice individual effort, beating Saint Mary’s goaltender Cory Chipman on the unassisted play.

The two teams continued to battle in the third period and X-Men forward Matthew Bragg came through with the game winner at 10:45, taking a pass from Brett Robertson then breaking in alone to deke Chipman and shovel the puck high into the back of the mesh.

The Huskies kept up the pressure for the remainder of the period and pulled Chipman late in the game but could not score the equalizer as the X-Men improved to 7-2-3 on the season with the 3-2 victory.

Perricone earned the win in nets for StFX, his third win of the season, while rookie netminder Chipman took the loss for the Huskies in his first start of the season.

Swan was named the Subway Player of the Game and first star for his two-goal effort. Matthew Bragg was the second star and Huskies Cam Fergus earned third star honors.

Next on the schedule for the third place X-Men is a game in Halifax Friday night against the 7th place Dalhousie Tigers (2-8-2), followed by a home game Saturday night, Nov. 28 against the second place Acadia Axemen (9-3-0) at 7:00 pm.