Huskies shutout Axemen to clinch second place and first round bye

(WOLFVILLE, N.S.) - The CIS No. 5-ranked Saint Mary's Huskies clinched second place and a playoff bye with a 3-0 win over the sixth-ranked Acadia Axemen in front of a near capacity crowd at the Acadia Arena in Wolfville.

The Huskies, who led the third place Axemen in the AUS standings by two points prior to the game, slammed the door shut on a possible tie for second place at season's end.

A tightly fought, scoreless first period saw very few scoring opportunities as Acadia edged Saint Mary's 13-10 in shots on goal.

Huskies forward Matt Tipoff opened the scoring four minutes into the second when he netted his ninth goal of the season off a rebound following a Peter DiSalvo kick-save on a breaking Shawn O'Donnell.

The Huskies took a two-goal lead with just under four minutes remaining in the second frame when Jeff Marchand scored off of a DiSalvo rebound from a shot from the slot by Ryan Hillier.

Shawn O'Donnell, named the Subway Player of the Game, picked up his second assist of the night and twelfth of the season, late in the third period when Cory Tanaka knocked home his eleventh goal of the year to give the Huskies a commanding 3-0 lead.

Both teams didn't capitalize on the power-play throughout the game, while Saint Mary's edged Acadia with 29-28 shots-on-goal advantage

The Huskies will play their last game of the regular season next Friday at home against the fourth place StFX X-Men, while Acadia hosts the 8-16-3 Dalhousie Tigers.

StFX trails Acadia by two points at fourth place in the standings, but the Axemen hold the head-to-head tie-breaker over the X-Men.

A win against the Huskies in the final game of the season and an Acadia loss would tie both teams, but the season series - tied at two - would go to Acadia thanks their advantage in head-to-head goal differential between the two teams.

The Axemen will host the quarterfinal series, but their opponent will be determined next Friday by the outcomes of Moncton at UNB and St. Thomas at UPEI.

The quarter-final series will begin with game one at Acadia on either Tuesday, February 12th or Wednesday, February 13th.

Source: Acadia Sports Information