Trois Rivieres, QC – The STFX X-Men held on for a 6-5 exhibition win over the UQTR Patriotes of the RSEQ conference Saturday evening.
The X-Men overcame a 2-1 first period deficit and scored three goals in the second period en route to the win.
X-Men forward Zack Trott scored the opening goal in the game 1:24 into the first period (from Brendan Clavelle and Matthew Struthers), but the Patriotes came back with a pair by Conor Frenetee and Jeremy Martin.
The X-Men held an 11-7 shot advantage but trailed by one after 20 minutes.
Shots were even at eight apiece in the second frame but it was the X-Men who took advantage of their chances. After Felix Lafrance gave the Patriotes a 3-1 lead two and a half minutes in while on the power play, the X-Men rattled off three unanswered markers to go up 4-3 after 40.
Connor Roberts scored shorthanded from Shawn Spearing and Jacob Hudson, then Hudson tallied five minutes later off helpers from Declan Smith and Matthew Philip.
Philip then scored the go-ahead goal at 13:12 of the second period while on the man advantage, from Struthers and Raegan Wiles.
The Partriotes tied it up again nine minutes into the third period off a goal from Samuel L'Italien.
Struthers regained the X-Men lead just 43 seconds later with assists from Charlie Callaghan and Trott.
He then garnered his fourth point of the night and second goal of the game with under three minutes to play to give the X-Men a 6-4 lead. Callaghan and Philip assisted.
Charles Beaudoin made it close, scoring for UQTR just 25 seconds to make it interesting and the home team pressed for the equalizer.
Joseph Raaymakers stood tall in the STFX net however as his squad hung onto to the win. He posted 23 saves for the win as the X-Men were outshot 28-24 in the game.
The X-Men now have a 1-2 record in pre-season action and will play one more exhibition game on Saturday, September 30th when they host the Saint Mary's Huskies in a 5:00 pm game at the STFX Keating Centre.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics