CIS No. 5 Hockey Axemen extend streak to seven with 5-4 win over Moncton

MONCTON, N.B. - The Acadia Axemen made it seven wins in a row, with a 5-4 victory over the Moncton Aigles Bleus on Moncton home ice. The 8-1 Axemen, coming off a hard fought OT Shooutout win over the #2 ranked UNB Varsity Reds on Friday.

Captain Liam Heelis scored the eventual game winner at 18:47 of the third period to give Acadia a 5-3 lead in the closing minutes. The lead would be shortened by a Simon Lacroix goal in the dying seconds of the game forcing Acadia to hold tightly onto the one goal margin.

First year goalie Brandon Glover got the start for Acadia, and played a solid game stopping 27 of 31 shots to grab the win, while the 4-4 Aigles Bleus' Adrien Lemay made 27 of 32 saves in the loss.

Acadia opened the scoring up on the powerplay nearly 14 minutes into the first period, on a goal from Christopher Owens. Liam Heelis followed with his ninth goal of the season, with Brett Thompson assisting on both first period markers. Moncton's Alex Noel responded for Moncton at the end of the period with the Axemen holding onto a 2-1 lead.

Early in the second period, Moncton's Allain Saulnier tied the game at 3:14 mark on a powerplay goal. Scott Trask followed five minutes later with his second goal of the season, giving back an Axemen 3-2 advantage, but it only lasted 27 seconds. Simon Jodoin responded for the Aigles Bleus, to tie the game back up at three.

Alex Beaton opened up the third period with an early goal which stood up until Liam Heelis added his league leading tenth goal at 18:47 to make it a 5-3 Axemen lead. But Moncton would score late in the third on a goal from Lacroix to keep things on edge right to the last second, with a mad scramble in front of the Axemen goal as the buzzer rang to end the game, giving the Axemen the 5-4 win.  Liam Heelis and Brett Thompson each had three points in the win.

Head Coach Darren Burns indicated that the weekend wins were positive outcomes but more work lay ahead. "Our guys played very hard this weekend. It is a very tough trip. Our guys have gelled real well. We need to now focus on Wednesday night's game at home against a good StFX Club"

The Axemen return home to take on the St. FX X-Men at the Acadia Arena on Wednesday. The X-Men have moved up to third in the AUS with a 5-4 record after a big win against UPEI - six points back of the second place Axemen.

Contributed by Chris Richards, www.acadiaaxemenhockey.com