Moncton tops StFX 3-2 in Game 1 of quarter-final series

(Moncton, N.B.) Aigles Bleus forward Vincent Deslauriers (Blainville, Que.) scored all three goals in a 3-2 victory over the StFX X-Men Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Subway AUS Men's Hockey Playoffs best-of-three quarter-final series.

With the victory the Aigles Bleus take a 1-0 series lead and look to close it out in two straight games Friday night in Antigonish—though the X-Men will be out to stop them and even up the series to force a deciding Game 3.

The visiting X-Men opened the scoring in the game as Regan Spears (Port Hood, N.S.) tipped in a Jeremiah Addison (Etibicoke, Ont.) shot from the point while X were on a power play just over six minutes into the first period.

The Aigles Bleus responded four minutes later when Deslauiries picked up a loose puck and fired a shot from the face-off dot to beat Blade Mann-Dixon (Antigonish, N.S.) in the StFX net.

The 1-1 score held up after 20 minutes as Moncton outshot the X-Men 15-10 in the opening frame.

Deslauriers netted his second goal of the night 7:31 into the second period as he picked up the puck off the Aigles Bleus face-off win and made a nice deke move around Mann-Dixon and tucked the puck in behind him into the X net.

His third goal was an untimely one for the X-Men, coming with only five seconds left in the second period and shorthanded. Maxime St-Cyr (St. Didace, Que.) brought the puck into the StFX zone on a two-on-one and dished a pass to Deslauriers who made another nifty move to beat Mann-Dixon.

St-Cyr assisted on all three of Deslauriers' goals.

The second period saw the Aigles Bleus outshoot the X-Men 21-11 as they brought the 3-1 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes of play.

The third period went scoreless despite the X-Men trying to get back in the game and leading in shots 10-7. They pulled Mann-Dixon with two minutes left in favour of the extra attacker and were able to score but with only one second left on the clock.

Cole MacDonald (Westaskiwin, Alta.) picked up a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Etienne Montpetit (Valleyfield, Que.) in the Moncton net but the X-Men ran out of time and the Aigles Bleus held on for the 3-2 win.

The teams played a disciplined game with only three minor penalties called the entire game.

Finals shots favoured the Aigles Bleus at 43-31.

Deslauriers received Subway player of the game honours for his hat trick performance.

Game 2 will take place Friday night in Antigonish as the puck drops at 7 p.m. at the StFX Keating Centre. Game 3, if necessary, will be back in Moncton on Sunday evening.

Source: StFX Sports Information