The blue and white came out of the gate on fire, finishing every check and playing strong on the fore check, leading to an early Tigers penalty. Patrick Daley was called for a hook at 5:13 of the first period. The No. 1 ranked power play in the AUS went to work as Michael Kirkpatrick buried a loose puck in front on a passing play from Bryce Swan and Josh Day at the 6:07 mark. After the first goal of the game, the pace started to settle down as Dalhousie created some quality scoring chances on X-Men goalkeeper Joey Perricone, but Perricone was up to the task. The score remained 1-0 after one period of play.
StFX continued the second period where they left off, controlling the pace of the play as the Tigers tried to figure out how to handle StFX’s strong fore check. With about eight minutes to go in the second period, the Tigers had two great scoring chances on Perricone. Firstly, forward Benjamin Breault was robbed in tight by the left pad of Perricone, then four minutes later Jordan Villeneuve-Gagne had a breakaway but was unable to solve the X-Men goaltender. After a scoreless second period, the 1-0 score in favor of 1-0 X-Men held after 40 minutes of play.
The third period was played out down to the last minute. Both teams understood playoff implications were on the line and neither was willing to give up an inch. It wasn’t until the 19:28 mark of the period, with Tiger goalie Wendell Vye on the bench for the extra attacker, that Murdock MacLellan (Kirkpatrick, Claffey) calmly put the X-Men ahead 2-0 with an empty net goal. As fans began to leave the building, just 12 seconds later Pascal Amyot came up ice for the Tigers and wired a slap shot over Perricone’s right shoulder put the Tigers back to within a goal with 20 seconds remaining in the game. As Dalhousie poured on the pressure in those final seconds, StFX defenseman Josh Day was able to trap the puck with seven seconds to go to and watch the clock stick down as the blue and white earned an important 2-1 victory over the Tigers.
The X-Men outshot the Tigers by a 21-15 margin in the game. Wendell Vye played steady in nets for Dalhousie, turning aside 20 shots while Joey Perricone was equal to the task in the X-Men crease, as he made 14 saves. Michael Kirkpatrick was named Subway Player of the Game, earning one goal and one assist in the X-Men win.
With the important two point victory, the sixth place X-Men improve to 8-14-4 and sit three points ahead of the Tigers with each team having two games remaining on the AUS regular season schedule. The X-Men will host the second place Saint Mary’s Huskies (17-7-2) this Friday at 7:00 pm at the StFX Keating Centre. A win in regulation would the X-Men the sixth and final AUS playoff berth.
The seventh place Tigers (7-16-3) travel to Wolfville, N.S. to take on the fifth place Acadia Axemen (15-9-2) on Friday night, then both the X-Men and Tigers will finish off the season on Saturday night in Halifax in a game that could have serious playoff implications, depending upon the outcomes of Friday’s games.