The StFX X-Men tied their Subway AUS quarterfinal series at 1-1 with the Moncton Aigles Bleus Saturday night in Antigonish, NS with a 3-2 win. Murdock MacLellan’s goal 12:25 in the third period held up as the game decider. Goaltender Joey Perricone played well in the StFX net as he was named Subway Player of the Game, collecting 33 saves on the night.
The first period was fast paced as Spencer McAvoy opened the scoring at the 16:40 mark when he sniped one past Moncton goaltender Pierre-Alexandre Marion off a nice pass from Jason Bast. The X-Men had control over the play for the majority of the period until the five minute mark when Moncton scored two quick goals. Maxime Pilon scored at the 4:24 mark, from Dean Ouellet and Alex Quesnel, then Guillaume Parenteau followed up with the second Aigles Blues goal at 5:33. Marc-Andre Cote and Mathieu Labrie picked up the assists. The shots were 16-13 after one period of play for the X-Men as the score remained 2-1 for the Aigles Bleus.
In the second period the pace slowed down as both teams’ defensive systems came into play. Both Perricone and Marion played well in their respective nets. Perricone made a highlight left pad save off a Charles Bergeron shot. Neither team was able to find the back as the mesh in the middle frame as shots were 22-10 for the X-Men in the second period and 37-15 after forty minutes in favor of the blue and white.
The X-Men seemed to have an extra spark coming into the third period as they looked for the game-tying goal, and the home town fans were not disappointed as Brennan Wray scored the equalizer on the power play at 9:49 off passes from Brett Morrison and Kevin Undershute. The excitement in the StFX Keating Centre continued when Murdock MacLellan tipped a Derek Claffey shot home at the 12:25 mark for the go-ahead goal.
Despite Aigles Bleus pressure late in the third period, the X-Men were able to hold on for the 3-2 win and send the AUS quarterfinal series to a third and deciding game.
StFX outshot Moncton by a 49-35 margin in the game. Marion played very well in the Aigles Bleus net, making 44 saves, while Pericone turned aside 33 pucks for the X-Men, taking home Subway Player of the Game honors.
The X-Men and Aigles Bleus will faceoff Monday, February 21st at 7:00 pm at J. Louis Levesque Arena in Moncton for Game 3 of the series. The game will be webcast live complements of Moncton Athletics at the following link. Should the AUS sixth ranked X-Men win, they will advance to meet the top seeded UNB Varsity Reds in a best 3-of-5 semi-final series, while an Aigles Blues victory would pit the third place team against the second ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies in the semi-finals.
The other Subway AUS quarterfinal series featuring No. 4 UPEI and No. 5 Acadia resumes tonight in Wolfville, NS. The UPEI Panthers hold a 1-0 series lead over the Axemen after winning game one by a 4-3 score Friday night in Charlottetown.