Ice Axemen gain valuable weekend split

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

The Acadia hockey Axemen picked up an important two points in the standings January 12 in Antigonish, and have Tyler Whitehead to thank.

Whitehead scored the winner at 1:05 of overtime to give Acadia a well-deserved 3-2 win over the St. F.X. X-men.

The first-year forward muscled an X-men defenseman off the puck, skated behind the net and tucked the puck behind goalie Ryan Aschaber on a wraparound.

The Axemen turned in a solid effort on the road, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game on Scott Giles’s goal at 7:25 of the third period.

Acadia dominated the final 20 minutes of regulation time, outshooting the X-men by a wide margin, but were unable to dent Aschaber until Whitehead took charge in overtime.

Ryan Desrosiers opened the scoring for St. F.X. on the power play at 8:37 of the opening period, and Ryan Salvis made it 2-0 with a power play goal at 11:55 of the second.

Paul McFarland got Acadia on the board with a power play goal at 13:06 of the second, on assists from Brad Horan and Philippe Bertrand. The score remained 2-1 until Giles tied the game off a Whithead set-up.

Officially, Acadia ended up with a 33-31 edge in shots on goal (and unofficially appeared to have even more shots), thanks in large part to their strong third period The Axemen were 1-4 on the power play, while St. F.X. scored on both their man advantages.

The win improved Acadia’s record to 5-11-2 and moved the Axemen into sole possession of seventh place, one point ahead of the Dal Tigers, and within five points of St. F.X. for the final AUHC playoff berth.

Saturday’s victory also took some of the sting out of a subpar performance in a 7-3 thumping at the hands of the Saint Mary’s Huskies January 11 in Wolfville.

Despite only trailing 2-1 after one period, the Axemen had their hands full against a relentless SMU offense. The Huskies scored three unanswered goals late in the second period to turn a close 3-2 game into a 6-2 rout-in-the-making.

To their credit, the Axemen turned in a solid third period, even despite being outshot 13-6 for a 30-18 SMU advantage overall.

Colin Power opened the scoring for the Huskies at 2:23 of the first period, and Kyle Doucet made it 2-0 with his first of three goals on the night, scored shorthanded at 7:53.

Just 23 seconds later at 8:16, with Acadia still on the power play, Blair Jarrett got the Axemen on the board with his first of two power play goals, making it 2-1 after 20 minutes.

Andrew Hotham restored the Huskies’ two-goal bulge at 1:40 of the second, but the Axemen drew closer on Jarrett’s power play goal at 8:31. The rest of the period was all Huskies, with Cam Fergus scoring at 10:40, Scott Hotham at 15:48 and Doucet at 18:31.

The teams traded goals in the third period, with Zack McMillan making it 6-3 at 7:29 and Doucet rounding out the scoring – and completing his hat trick – at 18:04.

Acadia has a crucial series this weekend at home, hosting UPEI Friday and St. Thomas Saturday. With St. F.X. playing at UNB and Moncton, it’s a great opportunity for the Axemen to gain some ground on the X-men in the standings - if they can win both games.