X-Men skate to 6-3 road win over Aigles Bleus
The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (8-10-2) had a third period charge, but it was too little, too late as the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men (14-3-3) won 6-3 Friday evening at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena in front of over 800 spectators.
MONCTON, N.B. – The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (8-10-2) had a third period charge, but it was too little, too late as the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men (14-3-3) won 6-3 Friday evening at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena in front of over 800 spectators.
In a team effort, six different players found the back of the net for the X-Men and 11 registered points in the game as they took a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Eric Locke extended his conference-leading point tally by notching the X-Men's first goal at 14:21 on a breakaway, off a lead pass from defenseman Nathan Chiarlitti.
Mark Tremaine netted the second X-Men goal of the night at 17:19 from fellow freshman Aaron Hoyles as shots were even at 8-8 in the opening period.
Craig Duininck gave the X-Men a 3-0 advantage 1:57 into the second period from Brent Turnbull and Tremaine, but the Aigles Bleus got on the board just 16 second later as Alex Neol assisted on a Steve Lebel goal.
Bronson Maschmeyer re-established StFX's three-goal lead with a power play goal late in the period as Kristoff Kontos and Locke had the helpers.
The 4-1 StFX lead held after 40 minutes of play, despite being outshot by the Aigles 18-10.
Moncton mounted a third period comeback, scoring two consecutive goals by Pierre Durepos and Alex Emond to close the game to 4-3. Durepos scored unassisted just over two minutes in, while Emond scored on the power play from Durepos and Alex Saulnier at 10:57.
Nathan Pancel gave the X-Men some breathing room with an unassisted marker at 17:44, then Blake Gal tallied an empty netter from Michael Clarke to seal the StFX victory.
Final shots favored Moncton at 37-31 as Adrien Lemay made 25 saves in the losing effort for the Aigles Bleues.
Drew Owsley, the second star of the game, earned the win for the X-Men with 34 saves.
Durepos was the games' third star while StFX's Tremaine earned first star and Subway player of the game honors.
The X-Men continue their road trip with a visit to Fredericton on Saturday night to meet the St. Thomas Tommies (2-17-1). Puck drop is 7:00 pm.
The Aigles Bleues will host the Dalhousie University Tigers (5-12-3), also on Saturday at 7 p.m.