Four unanswered goals give Axemen 6-3 win over Dal

WOLFVILLE, N.S – The Acadia Axemen (2-2) gave the home crowd something to cheer for on Homecoming Weekend in Wolfville, as they defeated the Dalhousie Tigers (1-3) 6-3 on Friday night. The game was a back and forth for most of the 60 minutes – including 4 lead changes – but Acadia pulled away in the third period with four goals coming in the final frame.

Acadia opened the scoring just before the midway point of the first, with a power-play from rookie TJ Fergus.

Fergus took a pass in front from forward Ryan Foss and buried the puck into the wide-open net for the first goal of his USports career to make it 1-0 for the Axemen.

Dalhousie responded with two of their own, with both goals coming from Aiden Jamieson.

Jamieson came streaking into the offensive zone, got the Axemen goalie moving to the right and then slid a low shot into the left corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1.

Just over two minutes later, the Tigers added another goal on a beautiful toe drag wrist shot from Jamieson at the left face-off circle in the offensive zone, which beat the Axemen goaltender high glove side.

Despite Acadia leading 11-9 in shots by the end of the first, the Tigers took a 2-1 lead into the second.

Although both sides had their chances during the second, it was a mostly uneventful period until Axemen forward Stephen Harper tied the game up late in the period.

Harper burst in with less than eight minutes to play in the second, muscling his way past the Tigers defense where he waited out the Tigers goalie and flipped the puck over his left pad to tie the game at 2-2.

By the end of the second period, the shots were 29-20 for the Axemen.

Dalhousie reclaimed their lead before the halfway mark of the third, with a goal from Jackson Playfair, who cut across the offensive zone and ripped a wrist shot past the blocker of the Axemen goalie to make it 3-2.

However, the Tigers' lead was short lived as the Axemen responded while the Dalhousie goal was being announced over the loudspeaker.

Axemen forward Marc McNulty shoveled the puck into net while falling in front of the Tigers net to make it 3-3.

Less than three minutes later, the Axemen took a 4-3 lead off an in-tight deke from Acadia forward and Subway First Star of the Night, Owen MacDonald.

Acadia added two insurance markers late in the third from forward Jack Flaman – which marks the first goal of his U SPORTS career – and a power-play goal from forward Jackson Houck to make it 6-3 for the Axemen.

Axemen goaltender Logan Flodell turned aside 26 of 29 shots, while his Tigers counterpart Reilly Pickard stopped 37 of 43 shots.

Following the game, Flodell praised his defensemen for the work in keeping the Tigers at bay.

"I thought we put the pieces together. We fore-checked hard and worked hard. The guys battled in front of me for the win and we couldn't have done it without them," said Flodell.

The second and third stars of the night were Duncan MacIntyre and Axemen forward Stephen Harper, respectively

The Axemen take to the ice again at home on Friday Oct. 19 against the UNB Varsity Reds. Puck drop is at 7:00pm.

Submitted by Joshua Foote, Acadia Athletics Communications Office.