X-Men goalie shoulders load in push toward AUHC playoffs
St. Francis Xavier goalie Danny Battochio has played the most minutes and seen the most shots of any goalie in the AUHC.

Danny Battochio is earning his keep in his final season of Atlantic university hockey.

No goalie in the conference has faced more shots than the St. Francis Xavier netminder. No goalie has played as many minutes as the third-year keeper.

But that suits Battochio just fine as long as the X-Men keep winning and remain in the thick of the tight AUHC playoff race.

"I don’t think I’ve ever been in a league that has been this tight in the standings, from peewee to major junior," said Battochio, who has turned aside 599 shots during his league-high 1,294 minutes played.

"It certainly makes for exciting hockey. Every game means something for all the teams. I think that’s great, especially for the league."

It’s a tight race among the six teams that have qualified in the conference. St. F.X. is in fifth place with a 12-9-2 record, one point behind fourth-place UPEI (12-9-3) and one ahead of Acadia (12-10-1).

The playoff teams have been determined — UNB (18-3-3); Saint Mary’s (17-7-0) and Moncton (14-7-2) are also post-season bound — but where they will finish in the standings has not.

Before Christmas, St. F.X. was on the outside looking in. But the X-Men then won three in a row before the holiday break and four more after it to move them into the thick of the race.

"We looked pretty decent coming into the Christmas break," said Battochio, a former standout with the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League and OHL scholastic player of the year. "We had a few wins under our belts against some really good clubs. We thought at the time it wasn’t a good time to have the Christmas break. We were on a roll.

"But the break seemed to relax us even more. We know we have the talent here, we know we can do something. It was just a matter of playing the games, playing 60 minutes and keeping the confidence. We don’t want that rollercoaster we had early into the season, where we would be playing a decent game, then play a bad game.

"But the boys are a lot more relaxed now and we seem to be playing the way we should be playing. It took a while for us to get started. Maybe we needed some time to gel together."

The X-Men have stumbled a bit since their winning streak, losing four of their last five. But despite their recent swoon, St. F.X. will once again make another post-season appearance.

And Battochio gives a lot of credit to the blue-line, in particular veterans Sean Donovan, Will Colbert, Jeff Caron and Sam Roberts, for making his "job a lot easier."

"You still have a job to do but it makes it a little easier on yourself," said the five-foot-nine, 185-pound native of Lively, Ont. "Our D has been great for us. They’ve been keeping the play out of our end.

"It’s just the mental aspect where you have to stay in the game. I just have to keep my focus, especially when the guys are out there scoring and keeping the play in the other end."

Battochio will graduate from St. F.X. with a sociology degree. He studied criminal justice with an eye towards a career in law enforcement. Battochio had already completed the police foundations program at Algonquin College and wanted to put his OHL education package to use at St. F.X.

But he’d still continue his hockey career if the opportunity arises.

"I would like to keep playing if it’s possible," Battochio said. "For now it’s get the degree and then see what happens."

St. F.X. returns to action tonight against Saint Mary’s at the Halifax Forum, one of three games on the slate. Acadia visits Dalhousie and Moncton hosts UPEI.

Story courtesy The Chronicle Herald