X-Men drop 2-1 game to Tommies in shootout

The StFX X-Men lost 2-1 in a shootout to the St. Thomas Tommies Saturday night in Antigonish, N.S. Goaltender Charles Lavigne had a strong game for the visitors, making 42 saves and Yuri Chermetiev scored the shootout winner.

The loss comes on the heals of a same 2-1 defeat to the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus the previous evening.
Both teams had a lot of jump to start the first period. With StFX battling through a recent goal scoring drought, the Tommies opened the scoring early at the 4:29 mark. Jordan Scott jumped on a loose puck and was all alone in the slot when he buried the puck five-hole on StFX goalkeeper Morgan Clark.  Sebastian Bernier and Bryan Main had the helpers on the play. The score stood at 1-0 in favor of the Tommies heading into the second period as they outshot the X-Men 10-5.

The X-Men found their legs in the second period and began to exert some pressure on the Tommies. StFX drew three power plays in the second period and had some solid scoring chances, however, they were unable to solve Tommies goaltender Charles Lavigne. Lavigne made several highlight-reel saves, including a stop on Jason Bast alone alone in front of the net, and a Michael Kirkpatrick snap shot that he quickly gloved. StFX outshot the Tommies 17-12 in the second frame and held a 23-20 shot advantage after 40 minutes, but the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Tommies.
 
The X-Men carried some momentum into the third period and continued to create scoring chances. It wasn’t until the 12:38 mark when StFX goal scoring leader Jason Bast buried a rebound past Lavigne after continued pressure in front of the Tommies net. Bryce Swan and Michael Kirkpatrick had assists on the play.

The two teams played out the remainder of the third period without any scoring and the 1-1 deadlock remained after regulation play expired.

The ten minute, four-on-four overtime period solved nothing, despite exciting end-to-end action, two hit cross bars by the Tommies and a late game-saving glove save by StFX goaltender Morgan Clark.

The ensuing shootout saw the X-Men line up Jason Bast, Michael Kirkpatrick and Kevin Undershute as their three shooters while St. Thomas fronted Jordan Scott, Jonathan Bonneau and Randy Cameron. All six shooters missed their breakaway chances and the teams went to sudden-victory extra shooters. StFX’s Jarod Struthers made good on his shot, then Stephen Sanza returned the favor for the Tommies as the shootout remained deadlocked. 

The X-Men’s fifth shooter Nick Pageau failed to score on his chance, setting up Tommies Yuri Chermetiev for the game clincher as he beat Clark with a nifty backhand.

StFX outshot St. Thomas by a 43-30 margin in the game, despite the 2-1 loss. Charles Lavigne made 42 saves and 4 in the shootout for the win in nets, while Morgan Clark turned aside 29 shots in regulation and 3 in the shootout.

With the shootout loss the X-Men (6-13-4) pick up a single point and remain in sixth place in the AUS conference, one point ahead of the Dalhousie Tigers who are challenging them for the final playoff berth.  The Tigers dropped a 3-2 overtime game to UNB. Four points separate the top five teams in the conference as two weeks remain in regular season play. UNB is in first place with 34 points, followed by a three-way tie for second with Saint Mary’s, Acadia and Moncton who all have 32 points. UPEI is close behind at 30, followed by StFX (16), Dalhousie (15) and St. Thomas (12).

Next on the schedule for the X-Men is a pair of road games February 3rd and 4th against Moncton (16-7-0) and St. Thomas (4-15-4).