X-Men win season opener with 4-1 victory over Axemen

Wolfville, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen (1-1-0) kicked off their regular season home opener to a raucous home crowd on Saturday night but came up short in a 4-1 loss to the STFX X-Men (1-0-0).

StFX forward Liam Hawel (Arnprior, Ont.), the 2022 U SPORTS rookie of the year, scored two goals in the game.

Despite nabbing a lead early in the first, the Axemen ultimately came up short. The X-Men overwhelmed offensively as the game went on and the Axemen failed to capitalize on their five power-plays on the night.

The Axemen opened the scoring with 13:21 remaining in the first period on a marker from the second star of the game, Liam Kidney (Enfield, N.S.).

Kidney broke into the offensive zone with a 3-on-1 and slipped the puck under the pad of the X-Men goalie Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, Ont.) to make it 1-0.

Acadia's goal came shortly after they killed off a potent power play by the X-Men. Conor McCollum (Pickering, Ont.) turned away a fantastic breakaway opportunity by X-Men forward Matthew Struthers (Milton, Ont.) early in the frame to preserve Acadia's momentum.

At the end of the first period, the teams were tied 9-9 in shots.

Adam Holwell (St. John's, Nfld) an unassisted marker four minutes into the second period, then StFX jumped out to their first lead of the game on a short-handed marker from Brendon Clavelle (Kapuskasing, Ont.).

Acadia had a number of solid scoring opportunities in the second, but they could not solve the X-Men goalie Raaymakers, who put in a strong performance.

By the end of the period, the X-Men held a 21-18 shot lead.

Hawel sealed the victory for the X-Men with a nifty wrist shot from the high slot on the power play with 12:37 left in the final period.

For insurance, Hawel buried an empty-net goal in the final minute of the game.

Combined, the teams had 54 penalty minutes on the night, with both teams getting five power-play opportunities.

Axemen goalie McCollum stopped 37 of 41 shots, while his X-Men counterpart Raaymakers turned aside 28 of 29 shots on the night.

StFX forward Adam Holwell was named the Subway player of the game.

The Axemen return to action on Friday, Oct. 14 at home against the UNB Varsity Reds on the first of two Homecoming weekend games, while the X-Men host Dalhousie next Wednesday night in their home opener.

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Recap courtesy Joshua Foote, Acadia Communications

Adam Holwell takes home Subway Player of the Game honours with a goal in the X-Men's 4-1 victory at Acadia tonight! #goxgo #SubwayFuel pic.twitter.com/vhwtOZreV8

— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) October 9, 2022