Axemen top Tommies 10-4

(FREDERICTON, N.B.) - The St. Thomas Tommies dropped a 10-4 decision to the Acadia Axemen in Atlantic University Sport men's hockey action Friday night in front of 353 fans at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

Chris Owens had four points for the Axemen, while Mike Cazzola and Brett Thompson each had three.

Andrew Fritsch and Brendan Childerley both had two points for the Tommies.

The Tommies struck first with Campagna breaking out and beating Axemen netminder Robert Steeves low for an early 1-0 lead.

Brendan Childerley took a hooking penalty midway through the frame and Brett Thompson took advantage for the Axemen, finishing off a tic-tac-toe play from Cazzola and Matthew Pufahl.

The Tommies reclaimed the lead with a Connor Sanvido goal, putting them up 2-1 after 20 minutes.

"When we work hard and we work together as a unit we're okay," Tommies bench boss Pat Powers said after the game. "As soon as we start trying to do more than what our game plan is, that's when they start to pick holes in us."

The second brought on a flood of goals for the Axemen. Christopher Owens started the frame with a short-handed goal 50 seconds in.

Heelis and Giftopoulos followed suit, adding two more to give Acadia three unanswered goals.

Boston Leier tipped the puck past Lee-Knight midway through the frame, and Alex Beaton and Brett Thompson each added a power play goal to give the Axemen a 7-2 lead heading into the third.

"We started the second period, and it's like we didn't have success in the first period," Powers said.

"We're up 2-1, we are out-shooting them significantly, we had a power play to start the second period, and things are very favourable for us. Then, all of a sudden we let in six goals."

Tyler Piercy took the job between the pipes for the Tommies in the third.

Heelis capitalized at 5:28 and Thompson completed a hat trick two minutes later, putting the Axemen up 9-2 with more than 10 minutes left to play.

Colin Martin sparked a Tommies run, scoring off an Axemen turnover. Andrew Fritsch followed suit, capitalizing on the power play and narrowing the gap.

Owens put an end to the run, scoring the Axemen's 10th goal of the game with five minutes to go.

Both teams are back in action Saturday night, as the Tommies host the St. Mary's Huskies at 7 p.m. and the Axemen face the UPEI Panthers in Charlottetown at the same time.

Source: St. Thomas Sports Information