X-Men fall to Acadia in bronze medal game

Bronze medal game: 2017 U SPORTS Cavendish Farms University Cup

FREDERICTON (U SPORTS) – Acadia forward Michael Clarke (Halifax, NS) had two goals in the first period, and Daniel Pettersson (Toronto, ON) added two in the second to lead the Axemen to a 7-3 win over StFX, in the bronze medal game at the 2017 U SPORTS Cavendish Farms University Cup Sunday morning.

University Cup website: www.universitycup.ca

Avenging their 3-0 semifinal series loss to the X-Men in the AUS playoffs, the Axemen earned their second win of the season over the X-Men, who held a 7-1 advantage over their conference foe heading into the bronze medal match.

Acadia head coach Darren Burns said the bronze medal was a nice way to finish the season, after coming into the tournament seeded eighth. "This shows the passion of our players," he said. "Guys played with integrity and character. It was tough to turn around after yesterday's loss, but we had to pick up and battle on, and we did." 

On the other side, StFX head coach Brad Peddle said the turn-around was not an easy one for his players, after falling to Saskatchewan 8-0 in Saturday night's semifinal.

"It is a different experience playing at 9:30 Sunday morning," said Peddle. "Twelve hours ago, we were just getting around to our post-game meal."

"It certainly wasn't the start we wanted, and we talked about that between the first and second period, then we came out strong in the second. We got some bad bounces and they capitalized on our mistakes." 

Acadia held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes as Michael Clarke (Halifax, NS) scored both Axemen markers. His first came just 1:13 into the period on their first shot of the game. He skated into the X zone and let a shot go from the face-off circle that beat X-Men goalie Chase Marchand (Halifax, NS) high on the glove side.

Clarke gave the Axemen a 2-0 advantage at 16:01 while on the power play, scoring on a 2-on-1 rush with Marc McNulty (Medicine Hat, AB).

Shots favored the Axemen 14-8 after 20 minutes.   

Freshmen X-Men forward Sam Studnicka (Windsor, ON) scored for the X-Men just 14 seconds into the second period to cut the deficit in half. He took a pass from Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, NS) from behind the Acadia net and buried it past Robert Steeves (Moncton, NB).

Acadia forged ahead, scoring four more goals in the second frame to put the game away. Boston Leier (Saskatoon, SK) found the back of the net at 12:03 while shorthanded on a 2-on-1 with Brett Thompson (Sault Ste. Marie, ON). Just 31 seconds later Liam Maaskant (Clinton, ON) jumped out of the penalty box and broke in alone on Marchand to snipe Acadia's four goal.

Pettersson then tallied his first of two goals at 13:30, tipping in a shot as he was parked in front of the StFX net.

Eric Locke's (Toronto, ON) power play marker with 1:34 to go gave the X-Men some life as he took a cross-crease pass from Jagger Dirk (Penticton, BC) and beat Steeves high on the glove side.

Pettersson gave the Axemen a 6-2 advantage with 22 seconds to play in the middle frame, connecting with Alexander Lepkowski (Buffalo, NY) and Clarke.

Shots were even at 12 apeice in the second period.

Nathan Pancel (Ottawa, ON) brought StFX within three goals just under three and a half minutes into the third period as he took a Regan Spears (Port Hood, NS) pass from the behind the net and popped it in.

Fatigue caught up with the X-Men as they were unable to come any closer. Taylor Makin (Lethbridge, AB) rounded out the scoring for Acadia with a power play goal at 19:44 to close out the 7-3 victory.

Acadia outshot StFX 34-29 in the contest.  

Steeves had 26 saves in the Axemen net, while Marchand turned aside 27 in the losing effort for the X-Men.

Clarke was awarded player of the game honors for Acadia with his three point effort, while X-Men captain Eric Locke received the same honor for StFX.

SCORING SUMMARY  

Official Boxscore: http://en.usports.ca/championships/mice/2017/boxscores_champ/20170319_9ipi.xml 

First Period  

ACA Michael Clarke (1) (Matthew Pufahl) 01:13
ACA Michael Clarke (2) (Marc McNulty) 16:01

Penalties

Tremaine (StFX) interference 07:16
Cook (StFX) interference 15:19  

Second Period

StFX Sam Studnicka (1) (Mark Tremaine) 00:14
ACA Boston Leier (2) (Brett Thompson) 12:03 SH
ACA Liam Maaskant (1) (Daniel Pettersson) 12:34
ACA Daniel Pettersson (2) (Boston Leier, Taylor Makin) 13:30
StFX Eric Locke (1) (Holden Cook, Kristoff Kontos) 18:26 PP
ACA Daniel Pettersson (3) (Alexander Lepkowski, Michael Clarke) 19:38

Penalties

Locke (StFX) holding 08:00
Lepkowski (ACA) cross-checking 10:28
Maaskant (ACA) roughing after whistle 10:28
Makin (ACA) holding 17:11
Braid (ACA) roughing 17:11  

Third Period

StFX Nathan Pancel (1) (Regan Spears, Cole MacDonald) 03:25
ACA Taylor Makin (1) (Scott Trask, Daniel Pettersson) 19:44 (EN)

Penalties

Iafrate (StFX) 10 minute misconduct 00:00
Leier (ACA) interference 8:40
Pancel (StFX) slashing 19:04  

GOALS (by period)

ACA 2-4-1: 7
StFX 0-2-1: 3 

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)

ACA 14-12-8: 34
StFX 8-12-9: 29

POWER PLAY:

ACA 2-4
StFX 1-4  

GOALTENDERS

ACA – Robert Steeves (W, 2-1, 29 shots, 26 saves, 3 GA, 60:00)
StFX – Chase Marchand (L, 1-2, 34 shots, 27 saves, 7 GA, 60:00)

ADIDAS PLAYERS OF THE GAME

ACA – Michael Clarke
StFX – Eric Locke

REFEREES: Colin Watt, Korey Bannerman
LINESMEN: David Geris, Jesse Marquis  

ATTENDANCE: 2,624

Start: 9:30
End: 11:49
Length: 2:19

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All Times AT) 

Thursday, March 16, 2017

1:00pm Quarter-final 1: No. 1 Alberta 1, No. 8 Acadia 4
8:00pm Quarter-final 2: No. 4 Queen's 1, No. 5 UNB 5

Friday, March 17, 2017

1:00pm Quarter-final 3: No. 3 York 0, No. 6 Saskatchewan 1 (OT)
7:00pm Quarter-final 4: No. 2 StFX 4, No. 7 McGill 1

Saturday, March 18, 2017

12:00PM Semi-final 1: Acadia 0, UNB 3
4:00PM Semi-final 2: Saskatchewan 8, StFX 0

Sunday, March 19, 2017

9:30AM Bronze: StFX 3, Acadia 7
1:00PM Gold: UNB 5 vs. Saskatchewan 3