Antigonish, NS - The StFX X-Men opened the hockey pre-season Friday night when they hosted the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus at the Keating Centre auxiliary ice surface, dropping a 5-1 decision to the visitors.

In the first period, Joël Blanchard (Caraquet, NB), on assists from Mitchell Robilliard (Laval-Ouest, QC) and Danick Emond (Terrebonne, QC), gave Moncton a 1-0 lead, at the 5:12 mark.

Before the end of the opening period, at 17:35, the X-Men tied the contest, with Kristoff Kontos (Penetanguishene, ON) scoring on a helper from Blake Gal (Lethbridge, AB).

The X-Men had 13 shots in the first 20 minutes, while Moncton collected seven.

At the 17-second mark of the second period, Moncton regained the lead on a goal from Jean-François Plante (Sherbrooke, QC). Allain Saulnier (Cap-Pelé, NB) and Samuel Groulx (Gatineau, QC) collected the assists on the power-play goal.

Just more than three minutes later, at 3:48, Moncton extended to a 3-1 advantage on a tally from Groulx, with assists chipped in by Thierry Comtois (Sherbrooke, QC) and Blanchard, who collected his second point of the contest.

Moncton wrapped up the scoring with two third-period goals.

At 1:31, Keven Lévesque (Rivière-du-Loup, QC) made it 4-1, on assists from Steve Lebel (Lemoyne, QC) and Pier-Antoine Dion (St-Christophe d'Arthabaska, QC).

Pierre Durepos (Shediac, NB) sealed the four-goal win, on the power-play, at the 14:03 mark. Saulnier and Gauthier notched the assists.

Moncton was 2-for-7 with the man-advantage, while StFX came up empty (0-for-7).

The X-Men held a 37-21 edge in shots on goal.

Adrien Lemay (Moncton, NB) made 36 saves for the win, while Drew Owsley (Lethbridge, AB) turned aside 16 shots in the loss.  

The X-Men return to exhibition action Wednesday, Sept. 26, when they travel to Bridgewater to face the Saint Mary's Huskies. Game time is 7 p.m.

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