The X-Men hockey team dropped two AUS league games on the road this past weekend. Friday night the X-Men were handled 8-2 by the UPEI Panthers, but followed up with a close 2-1 loss Saturday night ot the CIS ranked No. 2 UNB Varsity Reds.
The Varsity Reds opened the scoring in the game with a shorthanded goal from Nick MacNeil at 16:43 of the first period. Dion Campbell forced a turnover in the X-Men zone then passed it over to MacNeil in the slot, who quickly wristed a shot to beat StFX netminder Joey Perricone.
The 1-0 lead held through to 12:40 of the second period when Jason Bast got the X-Men on the board. He buried a Brennen Wray rebound as Steven Kuhn also picked up a helper on the goal.
Player of the game Campbell notched the game winner for the home town V-Reds two minutes into the third period. He one-timed an Antoine Houde-Caron pass from the faceoff circle, beating Perricone five-hole. Cam Critchlow also assisted.
With the win, UNB clinched first place overall in the AUS. The victory also marked a milestone for head coach Gardiner MacDougall, who earned his 300th career victory.
Daniel Lacosta made 23 saves in the UNB net for the win, as the V-Reds outshot the X-Men 32-24. Perricone made 30 saves for StFX in the losing effort.
Despite the loss, the goal differential was much improved upon the 8-2 loss the X-Men found themselves facing after Friday night’s game in Charlottetown to UPEI.
The Panthers jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first period and led 5-2 after two periods en route to the victory, the largest margin of defeat the X-Men have faced this season.
Dana Fraser scored two first period goals for UPEI, with teammates Jordan Knox and Tyler Brown also adding to the early lead. StFX goaltender Drew Owsley was pulled from the game after the third Panthers goal as he stopped eight of 11 shots.
Replacement netminder Perricone saved 26 shots for the X-Men who were outshot 42-20 in the game.
Ryan Fortune got the visitors on the board 3:20 into the second period, with Michael Kirkpatrick and Ted Stephens assisting. Steven Kuhn cut the Panthers lead in half at 4-2 with the X-Men’s second goal at 14:33 of the second while on the power play. Kirkpatrick picked up his second helper of the game on the goal.
Chris Desousa scored shorthanded for the Panthers before the second frame was up, then followed up with a third period goal. Teammates Mike MacIsaac and Colin Beck rounded out the third period scoring for the Panthers who notched three shorthanded markers in the game.
Fraser and Desousa each added a pair of assists as they had four-point nights, while Matthew Maione picked up three assists.
Wayne Savage earned the win in nets for the Panthers with 18 saves. Owsley was tagged with the loss as the X-Men fall to 13-10-2 on the season.
With 28 points, they sit in fifth place, two points back of the Panthers and two up on Moncton with three games left in AUS regular season play. Next on the schedule for the X-Men is a home game against second place Acadia (16-7-2, 34 points) on Friday, February 1st. They wrap up the season on the road against seventh place Dalhousie (8-14-13, 19 points) on Feb. 2nd and second place Saint Mary’s (16-7-2, 34 points) on Feb. 8th.