X-Men defeat Huskies in home opener

Antigonish, NS - The StFX X-Men (2-1-1) captured their home opener in AUS hockey action Wednesday night with a 5-3 win over the CIS third-ranked Saint Mary's Huskies (3-1-0) at the Charles V. Keating Centre.

In a scoreless first period, where the shots on goal were 16-7 in favour of the X-Men, StFX had the best opportunity to break the goose egg, when sophomore forward Eric Locke (Toronto, ON) took a lead pass and broke in alone on Saint Mary's goaltender Cole Cheveldave (Calgary, AB), but he rang his blast off the cross bar.

The Huskies opened the scoring at 5:14 of the second period, when a floater off the stick of Kyle Pereira (Brampton, ON) made its way through traffic on the X-Men doorstep, before eluding goaltender Drew Owsley (Lethbridge, AB). Stephen Shipley (Ilderton, ON) notched the lone assist on the marker.

After Owsley made a spectacular right pad save on Francis Menard (Embrun, ON) from point-blank range to keep it 1-0 for the Huskies, the X-Men knotted the score shortly after on a goal from Locke, who completed a nifty three-way passing play with Kristoff Kontos (Penetanguishene, ON) and Adam Stevens (Bedford, NS). 

Blake Gal (Lethbridge, AB) also had a great scoring chance, but his blast from the right wing, off the rush, rang off the goal post behind Cheveldave. 

Late in the second period, at the 18:07 mark, the visitors regained the lead on a point-blast from Stephen Gillard (St. John's, NL), who took a drop pass from Gerrad Grant (Halifax, NS), just inside the X-Men blue line. Taylor Burke (Halifax, NS) had the other Saint Mary's assist.

With two goals - 1:23 apart - in the first three minutes of the third period, the X-Men took their first lead of the game and never looked back.

At 1:09, freshman Nathan Pancel (Ottawa, ON) converted a Saint Mary's turnover to tie the contest. Michael Clarke (London, ON) scored the only assist.

Senior forward Cory MacIntosh (North Sydney, NS), banged in his own rebound off a centering pass from Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, NS), at 2:32. Captain Cole Grbavac (Calgary, AB) chipped in the other assist to give the X-Men a 5-3 advantage.

At 12:47, Tremaine - what proved to be the game-winner - converted on a breakaway, after taking a lead pass from Stevens, before beating Cheveldave stick side. Nathan Chiarlitti (Maple, ON) contributed the other helper to make it 4-2.

Backstopped by Owsley, the X-Men protected their lead, including thwarting the Huskies during 5-on-3 and 6-on-3 (when Saint Mary's pulled Cheveldave) situations in the final minutes.

At the 19:20 mark, with the teams back at even strength, Pereira scored his second of the night, unassisted, to cut the X-Men lead in half.

With 11.5 seconds left, Locke - with his second of the game - made it 5-3 for the X-Men, with Stevens setting up the marker with his third assist of the contest.

Cheveldave made 35 saves in the loss for the Huskies, while Owsley turned aside 29 shots for the win.

The three stars of the game were Owsley, Tremaine and Pereira.

The Huskies will be back in action Friday, Oct. 23, when they host the Acadia Axemen in Halifax. On the same night, the X-Men will welcome the Dalhousie Tigers to the Keating Centre. Puck drop for both match-ups is 7 p.m.

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Dr. Tim Hynes, Dean of the StFX Schwartz School of Business drops the puck at the X-Men home opener as StFX Athletics recognized business student and X-Men captain Cole Grbavac, named as a CIS Top 8 Academic All-Canadian, a very prestigious honor as the top male academic student-athlete in the AUS conference.