Aigles Bleus skate to exhibition win over X-Men

Courtesy Bryan Kennedy
Courtesy Bryan Kennedy

Antigonish, NS – The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus skated to a 2-1 win over the StFX X-Men Tuesday evening in pre-season exhibition play at the StFX Keating Centre. The game marked the first one for the X-Men this season.

Édouard Michaud's power play marker at 6:28 into the third period was the difference in the game as he notched the game winner for the Aigles Bleus, despite being outshot 35-14 in the game.

The X-Men came out strong in the first period, outshooting the visitors 12-2. Defenseman Cole MacDonald gave StFX a 1-0 lead while on the man advantage as he connected for a power play goal late in the period with Matt Needham and Adam Stevens.

Marc-Anthony Therrien evened it up for the Aigles Blues, scoring a shorthanded marker just over six minutes into the second period at the tail end of an X-Men power play. Goaltender Etienne Montpetit kept the X-Men off the board as shots evened up at eight apiece in the middle period.

After Michaud's go-ahead goal, the X-Men pressured for the equalizer and had a lopsided 15-4 shot advantage in the third period but could not solve Montpetit who finished with 34 saves on the night.

X-Men netminder Chase Marchand had 12 saves.

StFX will be back in action on the weekend as they travel to Trois-Rivières, Québec to face-off against the UQTR Patriotes on Friday night. They will then head to Ottawa for a Saturday exhibition game against the Gee Gee's.

The AUS regular season begins on Friday, September 28th when the X-Men play Acadia on the road in Wolfville, NS. Their home opener will be the following night on Saturday, September 29th when they host Saint Mary's at 7:00 pm at the Antigonish Arena.

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