Antigonish, NS – The Saint Mary's Huskies were too much for the STFX X-Men to handle in pre-season exhibition play Saturday evening at the STFX Keating Centre as they handed the X-Men a 7-1 loss.
Jaxon Bellamy got the Huskies on the board three and a half minutes into the first period on a power play goal, one of three goals the visitors would score on the man-advantage in the game.
Shots were even at 12 apiece in the opening period as the Huskies held onto the 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
SMU then took a 3-1 lead as Charlie Dafonseca scored 2:48 into the second while on the power play, and Cedric Ralph followed up with a another goal just over a minute later.
Raegan Wiles closed the gap as he tallied for the X-Men midway through the period, from Matt Struthers and Zack Trott, but the Huskies regained their two-goal advantage with a shorthanded marker from Jake Uberti.
Saint Mary's outshot the X-Men 14-9 in the middle frame.
They then went on to score three unanswered third period goals off the sticks of Declan McDonnell, Jaxon Bellamy on the power play and Reid Valade.
Final shots were 34-27 in favour of SMU as Jeremy Helvig and Matthew Welsh shared the win with split time in the Huskies net.
Lucas Pfeil and Joseph Raaymakers took the loss for the X-Men with 27 combined saves.
The game marked the final one on the exhibition schedule for X as they end up with a 1-3 pre-season record. They will take to the ice on Friday, September 6th to open AUS regular season play when they travel to Wolfville for a 7:00 pm game against the Acadia Axemen.
The X-Men's season opener will be the following night on Saturday, October 7th when they host Saint Mary's in a 7:00 pm puck drop.
-30-
Recap courtesy STFX Athletics
X-Men Hockey were honoured to have STFX Indigenous Student Society members (L-R): Hailie Sock, Julia Baniak and Cheyenne Toms drop a ceremonial puck prior to the game on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.