Antigonish, N.S. - The CIS fifth-ranked StFX X-Men scored a 5-1 victory over the visiting Saint Mary's Huskies (#9) in Game 2 of their 2016 Subway AUS men's hockey championship semi-final match-up Saturday night at the Keating Centre.
With the win, in front of a sell-out home crowd of more than 1,600, the X-Men took a 2-0 lead in the series.
The visitors jumped to an early lead at the 41-second mark of the first period, when Calder Brooks (Emerald Place, SK) gobbled up an X-Men turnover, before beating Drew Owsley (Lethbridge, AB) with a high wrist shot. It was an unassisted goal.
A couple minutes later, the X-Men had an opportunity to notch the equalizer, but Cole Cheveldave (Calgary, AB) turned aside a Kristoff Kontos (Penetanguishene, ON) shot off a two-on-one break.
Cheveldave also denied Trey Lewis (Aldouane, NB), who got a crisp shot away from the middle of the circles, after pinching in from his blue-line position.
At 5:09, the X-Men knotted the score, when Michael Clarke (London, ON) cleanly won a face-off in the Huskies' zone, which defenseman Nathan Chiarlitti (Maple, ON) collected just inside the blue-line. His floating wrist shot from the point squeezed between the pads of Cheveldave, before trickling over the goal line. Clarke had the lone assist on the game-tying goal.
A short time later, the Huskies almost regained the lead, when Gerrad Grant (Halifax, NS) picked up a loose puck behind the X-Men net, but he could not solve Owsley with a wrap-around attempt.
Off a Saint Mary's turnover in their own zone, Brent Turnbull (Stellarton, NS) took advantage, skating to the slot before ripping a blast behind Cheveldave. The unassisted goal came at the 9:53 mark.
On an X-Men power-play, Max Iafrate (Livonia, MI) sent AUS MVP Eric Locke (Toronto, ON) in alone, but Cheveldave made a big stop on a back-hand chance.
With the Huskies on the power play, X-Men forwards Brad Cuzner (Glace Bay, NS) and Zack MacQueen (Woodstock, ON) made key shot blocks to help keep the visitors off the score sheet.
On a late man-advantage for StFX, Locke got another break-away, but Cheveldave made two sparkling saves on the third-leading scorer in the conference during the regular season.
Seconds later, on the same sequence, Iafrate took a pass at the point and scored on a low blast to the stick side of Cheveldave. Chiarlitti and Kontos assisted, with four seconds remaining in the first period.
"It was tough giving up that early goal, but we were able to bounce back," Chiarlitti said during the first intermission.
In the second period, the Huskies came out strongly, with freshman Anthony Repaci (Toronto, ON) garnering an early scoring chance, but Owsley made a shoulder save on the high, hard shot.
Holden Cook (Oshawa, ON) and Cory MacIntosh could not extend the X-Men edge, when they were thwarted on back-to-back chances by Cheveldave.
When Locke got in alone for the third time in the game, he blistered a blast, but the Saint Mary's sophomore goalie made a sensational glove stop.
Not to be outdone, Owsley showed similar prowess with the glove hand, when he robbed Repaci, who completed a two-on-one rush with line-mate Stephen MacAulay (Cole Harbour, NS).
A couple minutes later, the second-team all-star made three consecutive saves while under pressure from the Huskies.
Later, off an X-Men turnover, Matt Tipoff (Toronto, ON) got a chance on the doorstep, but Owsley turned him away.
At 17:05 of the second period, on a five-on-three power play, Kontos roofed a nifty backhander over the left shoulder of Cheveldave, with Cook assisting.
"We have been getting the chances, but we haven't been able to bear down and capitalize," MacAulay said in the second intermission.
In the third period, the Huskies continued the comeback effort, but Owsley and an air-tight X-Men defense helped maintain the home team's three-goal advantage.
With 20 seconds remaining in regulation, Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, NS) and Cuzner completed a two-on-one rush, with Tremaine beating Cheveldave top shelf to seal the deal.
Chiarlitti was the Subway player of the game, while MacAulay earned top honours for the Huskies.
Owsley made 42 saves for the win, while Cheveldave turned aside 45 shots in the loss.
"The guys are playing great," Kontos said in a post-game interview. "It is awesome to get the two wins at home before heading to the [Halifax] Forum."
Game 3 of the series is set for Monday, Feb. 29. Puck drop is 7 p.m. in Halifax.
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