WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen failed to punch their ticket to the AUS playoffs on Wednesday night in Wolfville after a close 3-2 OT play-in game loss to the Moncton Aigles Bleus eliminated the Axemen from the postseason.
Acadia was down 2-0 heading into the third but managed to send the game into the extra frame. It was in that extra frame that Moncton forward and Subway First Star of the Night Michael Cyr scored with a wrister on an odd-man rush.
Both goalies put in a solid performance, with Acadia's Max Paddock stopping 25 of 28 shots for second-star honours, while his Moncton counterpart Étienne Montpetit nabbed third-star honours with 28 saves on 30 shots.
It was a relatively slow first period with the evenly matched teams, but Moncton put up the first goal of the game.
Alexandre Bernier was gifted a bad pass from an Axemen defender behind his own net. Bernier nipped a wrist shot from the slot to make it 1-0.
Moncton held a 13-12 lead in shots by the end of the first.
Despite a number of power-play opportunities, Acadia was unable to get on the board in the second period.
The Aigles Bleus added to their lead on a short-handed marker from Cyr.
Cyr took a pass from Vincent Deslauriers in the Axemen zone and wired a wrister past the Acadia goalie to make it 2-0.
At the end of the second frame, Moncton held a 22-20 lead in shots.
Acadia mounted their comeback in the third period of the game with goals from Peyton Hoyt and Eric Henderson.
Hoyt's goal came on a power-play off a nice passing play, which he finished while parked in front of the net to break the Moncton shutout and make it 2-1.
Henderson added a marker later in the frame, knocking the puck in as he fell to the ice in front of the net to tie the game at 2-2.
That was as close as the Axemen would get, as they fell to Moncton in the extra frame.
Cyr would score his second goal of the night on an unassisted goal 20 seconds into overtime.
Moncton now faces the Dalhousie Tigers in a best-of-3 quarterfinal series. Game 1 of the series is Friday, Mar. 11 in Halifax, while game 2 takes place in Moncton on Sunday, Mar. 13. The puck drop for both games is 7 pm.
Acadia will return to play when they host the University Cup, which will be held at the Andrew H. McCain Arena from March 31-Apr. 3.
Submitted by Josh Foote, Acadia Athletics Communications Office