Moncton nip X-Men in shootout

The hockey X-Men earned three out of a possible four points up for grabs this weekend with a 4-2 victory over St. Thomas and a close 3-2 shootout loss to Moncton.

On Saturday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre, the X-Men played a close game with the Tommies and came out on top of a 4-2 effort.

Murdock MacLellan opened the scoring in the game for the X-Men with a first period goal 7:57 into the game. Brett Robertson and Josh Day assisted on the play. The Tommies pulled ahead in the second period as consecutive goals were scored off the sticks of Tyler Dietrich and David Crossman, both on the power play.

Kevin Undershute locked the game up at 2-2 with a power play goal for X as Phil Mangan and Brett Morrison got in on the assists. First year defenseman Nick Pageau notched the eventual game winner for the X-Men 3:43 into the third period as he lifted one high over the shoulder of Tommies netminder Charles Lavigne. Ryan Desrosiers assisted along with Brett Morrison on his second point of the night.

Morrsion would add an empty netter with 19 seconds left in the game to seal the win for the X-Men in a game that featured some roughness and 52 minutes in penalties. To open the game, Tyler Dietrich of the Tommies and Ryan White of the X-Men were sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, while later in the game Dietrich was tangling it up and exchanging words with X-Men defenseman Mark Louis. Louis was assessed a 10 minute misconduct penalty while Dietrich was sent off the ice for a 10 minute gross misconduct.

In the end, the X-Men won the war of the words and the puck in the 4-2 win and goaltender Bryan Gillis earned his 7th win of the season. Shots were even in the game at 33 a piece. Brett Morrison took home Subway Player of the Game honors for the X-Men.

The X-Men hosted the Moncton Aigles Bleus on Sunday night after their original Friday night match up was postponed to due a winter storm in the Maritime region.

The Aigles Bleus hit the score sheet first as Guillaume Parenteau scored an unassisted marker 6:48 into the first period.

Spencer McAvoy blasted a power play goal for the X-Men to tie the game at 1-1- prior to the end of the first period. Kevin Undershute and Phil Mangan assisted.

The Aigles Bleus again took a one goal lead off a Mathieu Berube second period gola, but X-Men forward Bryce Swan quickly put the X-Men back into the game with a goal less then two minutes later. Brett Morrison set up Swan for his team-leading 18th goal of the season.

The 2-2 deadlock held throughout the third period, thanks in a large part to the goaltending efforts of StFX’s Bryan Gillis. Gillis made a few key saves in the final minutes, including a diving save to stop the puck from trickling over the line for a sure Moncton goal with under two minutes to play.

A ten minute overtime period didn’t solve anything, despite a power play opportunity for the Aigles Bleus so the game heading into a shootout, the X-Men’s first of the season.

Moncton’s Mathieu Betournay opened up the shootout with a goal for the visitors, then StFX’s Brett Morrison was stopped by Aigles Bleus goalie Kevin Lachance. Pierre-Andre Bureau scored for Moncton on a goal that would stand as the game winner as Phil Mangan’s shootout attempt was stopped by Lachance on the ensuing play.

Lachance had 27 saves in net for the win while StFX’s Bryan Gillis posted 28 saves in a strong weekend showing. Gillis also earned Subway Player of the Game honors for StFX.

The X-Men (10-10-4) currently sit in fourth place with 24 points in a close AUS conference heading into the final two weeks before playoffs. There re 4 points back of third place Saint Mary’s (12-8-4) and two up on fifth place UPEI (10-11-2) with a game in hand.

Two out of their remaining four AUS league games will be against the Panthers, with the other two facing off against the CIS ranked and undefeated No. 1 UNB Varsity Reds (23-0-0).

Friday night, Feb. 5th the Varsity Reds will visit the Keating Centre for a 7:00 pm faceoff, while the Panthers will be in town Saturday night, also at 7:00 pm for the X-Men’s final regular season home game. Their final two games will be on the road to Fredericton and Charlottetown on Feb. 12-13.

StFX Sports Information