Truro, NS – The Saint Mary's Huskies erased a 4-1 deficit to overcome the X-Men in exhibition action Wednesday night, wining the pre-season game by a 6-4 scoreline. Freshman forward Mitchell Balmas ignited the comeback for the Huskies, scoring four goals.
The X-Men skated out to a 3-1 lead after the first period of play. Bryson Cianfrone scored just 1:17 into the game for StFX then Dylan DiPerna evened it up with a power play marker for the Huskies, scoring off a shot from the point.
Fourth year StFX forward Matt Needham then scored consecutive goals within a minute and a half. His first one came on the power play and the second on a nice breakaway shot as the X-Men held a two-goal lead after 20 minutes.
Sam Studnicka scored on the X-Men power play at 5:34 of the second period then the teams settled in and StFX held off the Huskies until Balmas potted his first goal of the night with under three minutes to play in the second period as X was up 4-2 after two.
The third period was one to forget for the X-Men as Connor McGlynn scored for SMU two and a half minutes into play, then Balmas knotted the game at 4-4 with his second goal of the night while on the powerplay at the 11:38 mark.
His game-winner came five minutes later for the natural hat trick, then he added an empty netter late in the period to seal the 6-4 come-from-behind the victory.
The Huskies outshot the X-Men 32-25 in the game as Eric Brassard had 21 saves in net for the win.
StFX goaltending duties were split by Joseph Raaymakers (1 GA, 13 saves) and Blade Mann-Dixon (4 GA, 13 saves).
The game marked the final exhibition match for the X-Men this pre-season. They will begin AUS regular season play next Wednesday, September 25th in Halifax when they take on the Dalhousie Tigers.
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Courtesy Krista McKenna, StFX Athletics