Tommies beat X-Men in shootout

The X-Men hockey team fell to the St. Thomas Tommies 5-4 in a shootout Saturday night in Fredericton. Yuri Cheremetiev scored the overtime winner for the Tommies, giving them their first home win of the season.

Josh Day, with his second of the evening, scored with 20 seconds left in regulation for the X-Men to force the overtime frame. It was the second consecutive game that needed extra time to decide for both teams. StFX beat Moncton 4-3 in overtime the previous evening, while the Tommies had fallen 3-2 to Saint Mary’s in a shootout.

In Saturday’s game in Fredericton, the final one on the AUS schedule prior to the holiday break, Day opened the scoring with a power play goal at 12:09 of the first period. His shot from the point beat Tommies goaltender Jonathan Groenheyde through traffic. Nick Pageau and Jarrad Struthers picked up assists.

The Tommies Jonathan Bonneau scored his first of two goals on the night at 16:46 to even it up. Stephen Sanza assisted as Bonneau jumped on a rebound and beat Joey Perricone in the X net up high.

Gabe O’Connor gave the X-Men back the lead before the first period was up, scoring at 17:56 on a backhander from the slot that found its way through the legs of Groenheyde. Murdock MacLellan assisted on the play as StFX outshot St. Thomas 19-3 in the opening frame.

The Tommies came out in the second period and scored two goals to reverse the one-goal lead. Kyell Henegan (Colin Martine, Jordan Thomas) scored at 3:06, followed up by a Felix Poulin (Alex Labonte, Sebastien Bernier) goal at 7:54.

StFX would once again fight back as Jason Bast, left alone in front of the Tommies net, notched a shorthanded marker at 10:57 to even game at 3-3. Brad Cuzner assisted on the play.

The third period saw Subway player of the game Bonneau score his goal 5:23 in, as he picked up his own rebound and beat Perricone. Sanza got the helper, his second point of the night.

With the StFX net empty in the final minute of play, the added pressure resulted in Day’s tying goal with 20.6 seconds lefts on the clock. Bast and Struthers picked up the assists.

The ensuing four-on-four overtime period decided nothing after ten minutes of play and the teams headed to a shootout.

After each goaltender turning aside four shooters, Cheremetiev was the shootout hero for the home team, sealing the win for the Tommies, only their second of the season. St. Thomas (2-13-1) was outshot 43-22 in the game as Groenheyde made 39 saves in nets for the win.

The X-Men picked up the single point with the shootout loss and with a 9-5-2 record, currently sit in fourth place in the AUS standings with 20 points.

Acadia (12-3-1, 25 points) took over first place with a 3-2 win over UNB (12-4-1, 24 points) on Saturday, while Saint Mary’s (11-4-1, 23 points) sits in third as only five points separate the top for teams. Moncton (7-6-1, 17 points), UPEI (6-9-1, 13 points), Dalhousie (5-9-2, 12 points) and St. Thomas (2-13-1, 5 points) round out the standings to close out the first half of the season.

The X-Men resume AUS action on January 4th and 5th when they will again face Moncton and St. Thomas. Game time for both evenings is 7:00 pm at the StFX Charles V. Keating Centre.