Ice Axemen back on winning track

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

The Acadia hockey Axemen are back on the winning track in a big way with a 5-2 victory over the St. F.X. X-men Nov. 15 at Acadia arena.

Coming off a poorer-than-usual performance (at least in terms of this season thus far) in a 3-2 loss to Saint Mary’s Nov. 12, the Axemen started slowly - but more than made up for it in the remainder of the game, ending up outshooting the X-men 45-25.

Chris Bruton had the hat trick to pace the Axemen, who led 2-1 after two periods before outscoring the X-men 3-1 over the final 20 minutes.

St. F.X. opened the scoring on a goal by Tyson Aitcheson at 4:38 of the first period, but Bruton got Acadia on the scoreboard less than two minutes later at 6:29. The first period ended 1-1, with the Axemen enjoying a 15-7 edge in shots.

Jonathan Laberge had the only goal of the second period, his AUHC-leading 10th of the season, but the Axemen maintained a wide edge, reflected by their 20-9 advantage in shots on goal.

In the third, Bruton completed the hat trick with even-strength goals at 11:47 and 15:11. After Phil Mangan scored for St. F.X. at 16:27, captain Paul McFarland rounded out the scoring for Acadia with an empty-net goal at 18:48.

The line of Laberge, Bruton and Bertrand had a huge game, combining for 12 points: Bruton with three goals and an assist, Laberge with a goal and three assists and Bertrand collecting four assists.

Acadia was 1-4 on the power play and St. F.X. 0-4 in a clean, well-played game: just 12 minor penalties (six for each team) were called, four of which were offsetting.

With the win, Acadia improved to 7-3-1 for 15 points, good for sole possession of second place in the conference standings. As of Nov. 17, Moncton remained first with 19 points, with SMU, UNB and UPEI all tied for third with 14 points each.

The Axemen now hit the road, travelling to UPEI Nov. 21 and UNB Nov. 22, then wrapping up the first half of their AUHC schedule Nov. 28 in Halifax against the Dalhousie Tigers.