No. 7 Axemen topple CIS No. 1-ranked Varsity Reds

(WOLFVILLE, N.S.) - The CIS No. 1-ranked UNB Varsity Reds fell 4-2 to the No. 7-ranked Acadia Axemen in a highly anticipated matchup in Wolfville in front of 1,679 fans.

The win is the Axemen's second win against a Top Ten ranked team in the last two weekends.

Improving to 4-1, Acadia's four-game winning streak began after their season opening loss to the StFX X-Men on October 12. The Axemen dropped the No. 5-ranked Moncton Aigles Bleus last weekend in Moncton and their Top Ten wins continued tonight with a victory over the UNB Varsity Reds.

In a tightly fought game that didn't feature great scoring opportunities by either team, the Axemen were first on the scoreboard just 43 seconds into the game, capitalizing on a Colby Pridham tripping penalty 35 seconds into the first period. Dustin Ekelman knocked in the first of three Acadia power-play goals.

Acadia took a 2-0 lead off of an Andrew Clark power-play goal, his fifth goal of the season, at the 7:19 mark of the opening frame. Clark, last season`s CIS player of the year, also picked up an assist on the first goal by Ekelman.

The Axemen stretched the lead to three when senior forward Jonathan Laberge knocked in his third goal of the season off of a shot from the point by defenseman Chris Owens to give Acadia a 3-0 lead with 36 seconds remaining in the first period.

Fans were dumbfounded as Acadia extended the lead to 4-0 after 14 minutes of play in the second when first year sniper Brett Thompson scored his second goal of the season even-handed.

Playing a more defensive and safe style in the third period with a 4-0 lead, the Axemen gave up their first goal just over 10 minutes into the third period, breaking netminder Peter DiSalvo's goose egg.

With 1:42 remaining in final frame, a shot that deflected into the rafters of the rink was not whistled dead and eventually made it's way into the net. The officials questioned each other but it seemed that none of the on-ice officials could determine what happened, allowing the Cam Braes goal to stand.

The Varsity Reds pressed hard in the closing minutes and pulled the goalie only to draw a "too many players on the ice" penalty in the transition from having a goalie to pulling their netminder.

After two periods, the Axemen out-shot UNB 15-12 and capitalized on three-of-five opportunities in the first two periods. The Varsity Reds had a sharper second period, landing 10 shots on net compared to Acadia's five.

DiSalvo chalked up 20 saves on 22 shots, while UNB's Travis Fullerton stopped 16 of 20 shots on net.

Head Coach Darren Burns was hopeful that his team would play the same way against UPEI  tomorrow night.

"We played a complete game tonight. We need to make sure that gets carried over versus UPEI tomorrow night".

The Axemen share first place with a 4-1 record with the StFX X-Men who dropped the 2-2-1 Dalhousie Tigers.

Acadia hosts the 2-2-1 UPEI Panthers tomorrow night at 7:00 pm.

Source: Acadia Sports Information