X-Men fall 4-2 to first place Axemen
Special teams prominent as first place Axemen defeat X-Men 4-2 Saturday night
ANTIGONISH, NS — The first place Acadia Axemen relied on timely scoring and a strong goaltending performance to earn a 4–2 victory over the STFX X-Men on Saturday night at the Keating Centre in a game where special teams were prominent.
Brady Burns opened the scoring midway through the first period, finishing a feed from Marc Boudreau and Corson Hopwo. Early in the second, Hopwo added a short-handed marker to give Acadia a 2–0 lead.
The X-Men briefly swung momentum back its way when Logan O'Neil scored short-handed at 19:15 of the second.
Acadia responded just six seconds later with the same power play still in effect as Kian Bell restored the two-goal cushion heading into the intermission.
Axemen forward Boudreau extended the lead to 4–1 with a power-play goal early in the third, capping a three-point night. He earned player of the game and first star honours.
Ryan McGuire answered for STFX at 15:35, scoring on the man advantage unassisted as he broke in and roofed the puck past Couture.
Acadia goaltender Thomas Couture shut things down from there, finishing with 37 saves in the win.
Hopwo was named the game's second star and STFX's O'Neil was the third star and Gabriel Pizza Player of the Game.
The X-Men will be back in action on Friday, November 28th when they host the UPEI Panthers in a 7:00 p.m. game.
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