X-Men hockey season comes to disappointing end
The STFX X-Men had a disappointing end to their season as they fell 4-1 in Game 2 of the best of three AUS quarterfinal series Friday night to the Acadia Axemen. With the win the Axemen take the series 2-0 and move on to the semi-final round.
Wolfville, NS – The STFX X-Men had a disappointing end to their season as they fell 4-1 in Game 2 of the best of three AUS quarterfinal series Friday night to the Acadia Axemen. With the win the Axemen take the series 2-0 and move on to the semi-final round.
The Axemen got out to a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals from Corson Hopwo just over six minutes in and Keegan Stevenson at the 11:21 mark.
STFX closed the gap with a power play goal from Adam Holwell at 14:43 of the second period as he blasted a shot from the point through traffic and beat goaltender Conor McCollum.
The goal would be the only one to beat the Acadia netminder on the night, however, as he posted 28 saves on goal and made several key stops throughout the game.
Jack Flaman scored for the Axemen before the second period was over to give them a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.
The X-Men weren't without scoring chances. They went 1 for 8 on the power and could not capitalize on a pair of 5-on-3 advantages. Several dings of the iron echoed in the arena as well as the blue and white could not close the gap.
After a scoreless third period, Liam Kidney sealed the Axemen win with an empty net goal with 29 seconds to play.
Despite pushing hard throughout the game, the loss marked a quick ending to the X-Men season that saw them have a strong second half in regular season play.
Veteran defenseman Holwell was the Subway player of the game for the X-Men, while McCollum took home similar honours for the Axemen.
Acadia will now await the conclusion of the Moncton-UPEI quarterfinal series to determine the opponents in the semifinal round versus UNB and Saint Mary's.
-30-
Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics