X-Men skate away with 7-3 win over Tigers

The U SPORTS No. 4 ranked STFX X-Men beat the Dalhousie Tigers 7-3 at the Forum on Wednesday evening.

Photo credit Nick Pearce
Photo credit Nick Pearce
February 23, 2022

Halifax, NS - The U SPORTS No. 4 ranked STFX X-Men beat the Dalhousie Tigers 7-3 at the Forum on Wednesday evening.

The X-Men got out to an early lead with a goal from Declan Smith (Antigonish, NS) three-minutes into the first period. Conner Bruggen-Cate (Langley, B.C.) was credited with the assist.

STFX continued to pressure the Tigers and scored a second goal late in the first period on a shot from forward William Bower (Saint John, N.B.) with assists coming from Ethan Crossman (Sackville, N.B.) and Santino Centorame (Mississauga, Ont.). Building off Bower's momentum, Matthew Struthers (Milton, Ont.) slipped a third goal past the Tigers goalkeeper Connor Hicks (Kanata, Ont.) with less than a minute to play in the period, extending their lead to 3-0.

Coming out of the break, the X-Men remained in top-form offensively and­­ took only six minutes to score their fourth goal. The goal was scored by Smith – his second of the night. Crossman earned his second point of the game with an assist.

With five minutes left in the second, Matthew Philip (Ilderton, Ont.) scored on a clever shot to put the X-Men up 5-0.

Much to the pleasure of the home crowd, Tigers forward Christian Huntley (Halifax, N.S.) scored a short-handed goal, putting Dalhousie on the board and shortening the STFX lead to four. Liam Peyton (Halifax, N.S.) earned the assist.

The third period opened straight into a defensive stalemate between the two teams. Despite multiple scoring chances on both ends, neither team was able to score through the first nine minutes of action until Logan Johnston (Fredericton, N.B.) found the back of the net with just over 10 minutes remaining to bring the score to 5-2.

The X-Men once again managed to extend their lead with a goal from Connor Roberts (Owen Sound, Ont.) who broke free and scored on a breakaway with Centorame and Brendon Clavelle (Kapuskasing, Ont.) earning the assists.

Twelve seconds later, the Tigers answered back with a goal of their own as Cameron Thompson (Victoria, B.C.) scored his first goal of the AUS season.

Then, as the game broke out into an all-out scoring barrage, William Thompson (Fredericton, N.B.) scored StFX's seventh goal only 50 seconds after Thompson's goal for the Tigers. The score stood at 7-3 X-Men with two-minutes left to play.

Subway Player of the Game honors were awarded to STFX's William Bower who had two goals and an assist in the game. Goalie Blade Mann-Dixon made 20 saves for the win.

The top performer for the Tigers was Christian Huntley with a goal and two assists.

Up next, the X-Men host the UPEI Panthers on Friday February 25th, while the Tigers face off against the UPEI Panthers the following day on February 26th.

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Courtesy Daniel Simpkin, Dalhousie Sports Information