Hockey X-Men start regular season with pair of wins

The CS ranked No. 9 StFX X-Men are 2-0 to start the regular season in AUS hockey action, earning victories over Acadia (5-4) and Saint Mary’s (5-3).

Saturday night, in the blue and white home opener at the Keating Centre in Antigonish, Joey Perricone made 29 saves in leading the home side to a 5-3 win over the visiting Saint Mary’s Huskies.

Ted Stephens scored the unassisted game winner with less than five minutes remaining in the third period, when his centering pass from behind the Huskies’ goal deflected in off the leg of goaltender Anthony Peters.

That marker came after the Huskies erased a 3-1 deficit in the first half of the third period with goals 35 seconds apart by Lucas Bloodoff, on the powerplay, and Ryan Hillier, who scored on a  breakaway with a backhander that beat Perricone.

The X-Men opened the scoring at 7:04 of the first period when newcomers Steven Kuhn and Cole Grbavac combined, with Grbavac tallying his second goal in as many regular games.

At 16:02, veteran Brennan Wray tallied a powerplay goal to give the X-Men a 2-0 lead after the opening period. Defensemen Bronson Maschmeyer and Derek Claffey drew assists.

Early in the second period, the Huskies cut the advantage in half on a powerplay goal from Matt Tipoff.

The X-Men regained their two-goal lead when Maschmeyer, a freshman, one-timed a pass from Jason Bast, beating Peters top shelf over the left shoulder. Josh Day also assisted on the marker, which came during an X-Men four-on-three powerplay.

Cory MacIntosh, with his second of the regular season, sealed the deal with a late shorthanded breakaway goal, beating Peters cleanly with a backhand shot top corner to give the X-Men a 5-3 lead. Captain Murdock MacLellan gave MacIntosh the breakaway pass.

The Huskies outshot the X-Men 32-27.

Friday night, the blue and white scored a 5-4 victory when they visited the Acadia Axemen at Homecoming in Wolfville.
 
Antigonish native R.D. Chisholm scored what proved to be the game winning goal at 13:18 of the second period on an assist from MacIntosh.

MacIntosh, a freshman from North Sydney, opened the scoring in the first period, with assists going to Chisholm and Zackary MacQueen.

After Dustin Ekelman evened the score 1-1, Jason Bast scored his first of the regular season, from Wray and Spencer MacAvoy.
 
The Axemen tied it in the second period when Jonathan Laberge beat rookie X-Men goaltender Drew Owsley.

Claffey gave the blue and white a 3-2 lead at 2:41 of the second period, with Jarrad Struthers and Stephens contributing assists.

Grbavac extended the X-Men advantage to 4-2 before Chisholm’s tally rounded out the second period scoring.

The Axemen battled back in third period, trimming the X-Men lead to 5-4 on goals from Michael Ward and Brett Thompson.

Owsley, in his AUS regular season debut, made 35 saves for the X-Men. Evan Mosher and Peter DiSalvo made seven and two saves, respectively, for Acadia.

The Axemen outshot the visitors 39-14.

The X-Men return to action Friday, October 19, when they host the UPEI Panthers at the Keating Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.

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