U SPORTS No. 10 X-Men hand No. 5 Axemen 7-4 loss

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Continuing their strong opening to the season, the USPORTS No. 10 ranked StFX X-Men (5-1-0) pulled off a convincing 7-4 win against the No. 5 ranked Acadia Axemen (2-4-0) on Wednesday night.

One bright spot for the Axemen came when Keegan Stevenson scored his first USPORTS career goal. He potted his goal on the power-play while parked in front of the net where he lifted a backhand in tight under the crossbar.

StFX dominated play through the first period and was rewarded with a 4-0 lead by the end of the opening frame.

The X-Men opened the scoring early in the game, thanks to hard work in front of the net from William Bower.

Bower picked up a rebound off the pad of the Acadia goalie Logan Flodell in front of the net and rammed the puck in to make it 1-0.

Less than ten minutes later, StFX doubled their lead on a power-play goal from Subway First Star of the Game, Zack Trott.

In the final two minutes of the frame, StFX added two more goals to take a commanding 4-0 advantage.

The first was a breakaway from Jacob Hudson, who slipped the puck under Flodell's glove, while the second came from Matthew Struthers, who took a cross-ice pass and lifted the puck under the crossbar in close for the final goal of the period.

By the end of the first period, shots were 14-12 for StFX.

While the second star of the night Garrett McFadden got Acadia on the board with a pair of goals in the second period, the Axemen were still down 5-2 by the end of the second period.

StFX opened the scoring in the third with a goal from third-star of the night Liam Hawel, who snuck a shot in during a scramble in front.

McFadden's first of the period came on the power-play when he wired a shot from the right side of the ice, while his second came in the last minute of the period when he finished a pass from Maurizio Colella.

At the end of the second period, the X-Men held a 23-19 lead in shots.

It was a high-scoring third period, as both teams added two goals apiece.

StFX got markers from Matthew Phillip and Josh Nelson, while Acadia got goals from Keegan Stevenson and Jack Flaman in the back half of the final frame.

Despite the late reply from the Axemen, they were unable to answer StFX's strong offensive performance.

Acadia goalie Logan Flodell turned aside 4 of 14 shots, before being pulled at the end of the first. Max Paddock turned aside 11 of 14 shots for Acadia in two periods of play.

StFX goalie Joseph Raaymakers stopped 28 of 32 shots.

Acadia's next game is Friday, Oct. 22 at home against the Saint Mary's Huskies, while StFX takes on UNB this Friday, Oct. 22. The puck drop for both games is 7:00 pm.

Provided by Josh Foote, Acadia Athletics Communications