ANTIGONISH, N.S. - The CIS ranked No. 3 Acadia Axemen held on for a 2-1 victory over the StFX X-Men in a close game Saturday evening at the Keating Centre.

Travis Randell's goal 2:33 into the second period would hold up as the game winner for the Axemen, who improved their record atop at the AUS standings at 15-1-2.

The game marked the third consecutive game this season the Axemen and X-Men have played to a one goal margin. They each exchanged home ice victories in overtime in their previous two encounters.

Axemen forward Michael Clarke opened the scoring at 14:50 of the first period just after an Axemen power play opportunity had expired. His wrist shot beat StFX netminder Drew Owsley. Joe Gaynor and Dylan Anderson assisted on the play.

Randell gave the Axemen a 2-0 advantage with his second period goal. He skated in on the right side with a quick shot that beat Owsley over the left shoulder. K.C. Brown and Leo Jenner had the helpers.

The Axemen played disciplined hockey, not giving up a power play chance to the X-Men until late in the second period. StFX capitalized on that man-advantage as forward Jarrad Struthers tipped in a Josh Day shot from the point to beat Axemen goalie Evan Mosher. Spencer McAvoy also had an assist on the goal.

Shots were 15-14 in favor of the X-Men after two periods of play.

The third period saw a lot of fighting for puck control and neutral zone play as the X-Men outshot the Axemen 8-6 but could not score the equalizer.

StFX had a power play chance with just over two minutes to play, and increased that advantage to 6-on-4 after pulling Owsley with 1:07 left on the clock, but Mosher and the Axemen held on for the victory.
With 22 saves, Mosher was named the Subway player of the Game and holds the best goals against average of 1.66 in the conference.

Owsley had 18 saves in the X-Men net as they dropped to 9-8-1 but remain in third place in the AUS standings. The Axemen improve to 15-1-2 and extend their winning streak to five. The last recorded loss in regulation time (not including overtime losses) was on the opening weekend of the AUS season back on October 20 against the UPEI Panthers.

Acadia will head to New Brunswick on a tough road trip beginning with second place UNB and then capping the trip in Moncton.

Story submitted by StFX Sports Information. Photo credit Erica Roberts