CIS No. 3 Axemen extend winning streak to four with 5-1 over Huskies

(WOLFVILLE, N.S.) - Thanks in part to goals from four different players and a 28-save performance from Evan Mosher, the CIS No. 3-ranked Acadia Axemen beat last year's CIS silver medalists, the Saint Mary's Huskies, 5-1 at Acadia Arena in front of a sold out crowd of 2,100, running their winning streak to four.

This is the third straight time Acadia have beaten the Huskies this season, improving to a record of 14-1-2 and first place in the AUS men's hockey standings.

The Axemen acted quickly to make sure their winning ways continued, jumping to an early first period lead. Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. native Brett Thompson opened up the scoring less than a minute into the first period by roofing one from his backhand over the Huskies' Anthony Peters' shoulder. Thompson also added a goal in the second period to earn the games Subway First Star award.

Late in the first frame on a short 4-on-3 break, Acadia's Mike Cazzola, who leads the conference in assists, was able to slide a short pass in between two Huskies defencemen to third star of the game Liam Heelis who went high glove side on Peters, to give the Axemen a two-goal advantage heading into the dressing room. Heelis' conference leading 17th goal of the season would end up being the eventual game winner.

The second period saw four goals scored in two and a half minutes, three by the Axemen and the other by Saint Mary's.

The first of the second frame was scored by fourth-year forward Dustin Ekelman, who buried a rebound in front of the net after a point shot from Geoff Schemitsch. The goal was Ekelman's sixth of the season and a good enough performance to be named the second star of the game.

Seconds after Ekelman's goal, Saint Mary's forward Gerrad Grant netted the Huskies lone goal of the evening on an impressive passing play.

Thompson's second of the game, 50 seconds after Ekelman's goal, came off a wrist shot from below the circle into a wide-open cage, putting a halt to any possible Huskies come back.

Third-year forward Alex Beaton added one for good measure on a breakaway, faking the backhand and firing high far side.

Saint Mary's goaltender Anthony Peters made 21 saves in a losing attempt dropping his record to 1-4-0 on the season, while Acadia's Evan Mosher improves his league-leading goals against average of 1.71, stopping 28 shots.

Acadia, who holds onto a three-point lead for first place over UNB in the AUS standings, visit StFX in Antigonish Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Axemen's next home game is in two weeks time on Saturday Jan. 25 when they will take on the StFX X-Men. The Huskies have the remainder of the weekend off. They will host St. Thomas next Friday night at the Halifax Forum.

*Game Note: Seven players, including three Axemen and four Huskies, were recognized for their efforts in bringing home the men's hockey gold medal from the FISU Winter Universiade held in Trentino, Italy in mid-December this past year. The players included the Huskies' Anthony Peters and Cory Tanaka (Lucas Bloodoff and Mike D'Orazio were injured for the game) along with Axemen Liam Heelis, Mike Cazzola and Chris Owens.

Source: Mitch Racine for Acadia Sports Information