BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

The Acadia hockey Axemen were definitely looking for better things.

The Axemen, winners of two straight and three of their last four regular season games prior to the Christmas break, opened the second half on the road against UPEI and St. Thomas, fifth and fourth respectively in the conference standings.

When all was said and done, the Axemen lost both games and, with them, a chance to narrow the gap between them and the teams ahead of them in the standings.

January 4 in Charlottetown, the Axemen, in particular goalie Lanny Ramage, deserved better than they got in a 3-2 shootout loss. Though they picked up a point for the overtime defeat, Acadia was unable to gain any ground on either UPEI or St. Thomas (though they did move into a seventh place tie with the Dal Tigers with 10 points apiece).

Craig Foster scored the shootout winner, his second goal of the game, after the teams had battled through three periods of regulation time and 10 minutes of overtime tied at two goals apiece.

Vince Scott opened the scoring for UPEI at 2:43 of the first period, and it remained 1-0 until Acadia defenseman Derek Lewis scored on the power play.

An entertaining two-way game, with outstanding goaltending from both Ramage and the Panthers’ Paul Drew, stayed 1-1 until Axemen Zack McMillan broke the tie with a power play goal at 15:26. Foster tied the score with the lone goal of the third period.

The Axemen outshot UPEI 35-31 and were 2-4 on the power play (to the Panthers’ 0-6), but were able to put only the two pucks past Drew in regulation time and overtime.

Ramage made several key saves in the third period and through overtime to keep the score tied, and stopped two of the four UPEI skaters in the shootout.

January 5 at the Lady Beaverbrook Rink in Fredericton, the Axemen, according to game stats, had 48 shots - including 20 in the third period alone, on Tommies’ goaltender Matt Davis, but were unable to score in a 3-0 defeat.

Somewhat surprisingly given the same two teams had combined for 12 goals in a 7-5 Acadia win in the consolation final of the UNB Christmas tournament less than a week before, Saturday’s game was scoreless until the final minute of the second period, when Maxime Chamberland got the Tommies on the board.

St. Thomas made it 2-0 on a Kyle Gailey goal at 5:11 of the third period, and Devan Praught scored into an empty net at 18:14 to round out the scoring.

Aarguably the highlight of the evening, at least for the fans in attendance, was a fight in the second period between Acadia’s Dave Lomas and the Tommies’ Aaron Lobb. A real rarity in university hockey, both players were ejected after picking up minor, major, game misconduct and gross misconduct penalties.

The Axemen are back in action this Friday evening, when they host the Saint Mary’s Huskies. SMU is second in the standings at 11-4-1 (to Acadia’s 4-10-2), but the last time the teams met, Nov. 14 in Halifax, the Axemen won 4-3 in a shootout.