X-Men on Verge of Series Win

Courtesy Glenn MacDonald, The Chronicle Herald

A third-period comeback and the clutch goaltending of Joseph Perricone has the St. Francis Xavier X-Men one win from the Atlantic University Hockey Conference final.

The third-year netminder made 39 saves — including one on a Cory Tanaka breakaway late in the third period — as St. F.X. skated away with a 3-2 victory over the Saint Mary’s Huskies in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal Tuesday night before 2,700 fans at the Halifax Forum.

The X-Men own a 2-1 series lead and can advance to the league final with a win at home in Game 4 Sunday night at the Keating Millennium Centre.

"(Perricone) is our MVP; he’s a special player," said St. F.X. forward Bryce Swan, who notched the go-ahead goal at the 9:47 mark of the third period.

"Joe’s a big-time player who loves these type of games. We’ll ride him for as long as he can while he has the hot hand."

It was a quick right leg that helped preserve the win. On a St. F.X. turnover in the neutral zone, Tanaka grabbed a loose puck and broke in alone from the blue-line. He faked to his right and fired a low shot but Perricone did the splits and kicked the shot out with his right pad.

"It looked like he was going blocker side," Perricone recalled. "I was expecting a shot so I planted my right foot because I didn’t think he would deke. Luckily I got my pad down and was able to make the stop."

The Huskies, behind goals by Andrew Hotham and Ryan Rorabeck, entered the final frame with a 2-1 lead. They outplayed St. F.X. in the second and outshot the X-Men 17-8 in the period.

But rookie Jason Bast — who assisted on Spencer McAvoy’s second-period goal — knotted the score with a one-timer from the high slot that beat SMU goalie Neil Conway at the 5:16 mark of the third. Four-and-a-half minutes later, Swan, with 13 seconds left on a power play, deftly tipped a Phil Mangan point shot past a screened Conway.

"It’s a huge comeback and a huge win," Perricone said. "We had to win one on the road and now we’re going back to our home crowd. In this league, it seems home ice advantage is huge."

As good as he was in the final 40 minutes, Perricone was fighting the puck in the first period. He misplayed a Colby Pridham shot from inside the blue-line which deflected off his glove but nicked the cross-bar. Moments later, he juggled a long shot from outside the blue-line by Chris MacKinnon.

"I came into the (dressing) room after the first and told the boys I would be better," Perricone said. "It was a combination of nerves and this rink can be tough to see. But I found a way to get some saves."

He settled down in the second with some highlight-reel saves, including two on MacKinnon.

After SMU successfully killed a five-one-three man advantage, MacKinnon stepped out of the penalty box and had a clear break from the X-Men blue-line only to be denied by Perricone. Shortly after, with MacKinnon alone in the left face-off circle, Perricone robbed the first-year forward with a quick glove stop on a shot labelled for the top corner.

"We have to figure out this goalie," a dejected MacKinnon said. "He’s standing on his head. You have to give him credit, he has made a ton of saves. But we missed too many opportunities. Myself, I missed six or seven golden chances and it’s frustrating. I have to figure it out."

For the second game in a row, there were problems with the glass at the venerable north-end arena.

Game 2 was delayed for nearly 20 minutes while maintenance staff worked to fix glass along the side boards. On Tuesday, the final 2:38 of the second period had to be tacked onto the start of the third after a panel of glass fell out of its stanchions behind the St. F.X. goal.

The delay probably came at an opportune time for the X-Men, who were outplayed up to that point.

"That little break when the glass popped out gave us a little time to calm down," Swan said. "We couldn’t score on our five-on-threes and they did. The emotions were high and we were on a rollercoaster. During the last game they scored right after that delay so we learned from our mistakes."

The defending nationals champions may be on the brink but MacKinnon said the Huskies aren’t going to buckle.

"We handle adversity well," MacKinnon said. "We’re not worried about our position right now. We can go there, steal a game and then come back and win in our own barn."