The StFX X-Men wrapped up the AUS regular season with a 4-3 shootout victory over the CIS No. 4 ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies Friday night in Halifax. Ted Stephens scored the shootout winner for the X-Men, his second shootout marker of the year.
Stephens also collected the shootout winner in StFX’s only other shootout game this year, a 5-4 win on Jan. 19th, also over Saint Mary’s. His Friday night goal was the only one scored in the shootout contest amongst five shooters.
Veteran fifth year goaltender Joey Perricone turned aside 42 shots in the StFX net for his eighth win of the season.
With the win the X-Men clinch fourth place in the AUS conference standings and home ice advantage in the opening quarter-final round of the playoffs. They closed the season with a 16-10-2 record and 36 points, two ahead of fifth place UPEI (15-11-2), their quarter-final opponents.
Game one of the best two-of-three series is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 13th at 7:00 pm at the StFX Charles V. Keating Centre. Game two will be held Friday, Feb. 15th in Charlottetown, followed by game three (if necessary) back in Antigonish on Sunday, Feb. 17th.
The other quarter-final series features third place Acadia (17-9-2) versus sixth place Moncton (12-10-6). First place UNB (23-5-0) and second place Saint Mary’s (18-7-3) await the quarter-final winners for the best three-of-five semifinals.
In Friday night’s game in Halifax, X-Men leading scorer Jason Bast gave StFX a 1-0 advantage after the first period as he scored at 9:41, beating Huskies goaltender Curtis Black five-hole. The game marked the first and only start of the season for Black. Steven Kuhn and Bronson Maschmeyer assisted on Bast’s goal.
Stephen Johnston evened the game for the Huskies, scoring 5:09 into the second period as his backhander into the top corner of the net beat Perricone. Jeff Marchand and Lucas Bloodoff picked up the helpers.
StFX regained the lead when Jarrad Struthers scored on a penalty shot at 18:17. StFX was awarded the penalty shot late in the period after Black mishandled the puck in front of the SMU net, turning it over right in front to Zach MacQueen, whose sure goal was blocked by a diving Huskies defenseman Patrick O’Keefe. The 2-1 lead held after 40 minutes of play.
The Huskies came back in the third frame with two unanswered goals to turn around the one goal lead in their favor. Bradley Greene tipped in an O’Keefe shot from the blue line at 4:16, while fifth year captain Justin Wallingford made a nifty move in front of Perricone and backhanded an unassisted shot at 7:47, to give the Huskies the 3-2 edge.
Josh Day notched the tying goal for the X-Men after he picked up a loose rebound and fired the puck past Black with 6:41 left to play in the game. Cole Grbavac and Cory MacIntosh were in on the assists.
The four-on-four overtime period saw a flurry of shots and scoring chances as the Huskies outshot the visiting X-Men 12-4 in the ten-minute period but to no avail. They hit a couple posts and Perricone made some key saves to keep the X-Men in the game, setting up the shootout decider by Stephens.
Saint Mary’s outshot the X-Men 45-23 in the game.
Tickets for game one of the Subway AUS men’s hockey quarter-final series are expected to go on sale Monday morning at the Charles V. Keating Centre box office.