Antigonish, NS - The StFX X-Men (8-5) skated to their sixth consecutive regular season victory with a 3-2 win over the visiting Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus (6-5-2) in AUS action Friday night.
More than 500 fans braved snowy weather to watch the action at the Keating Centre on the StFX campus.
Moncton opened the scoring at the 5:11 mark of the first period on a nifty passing play between Alex (Cap Pele, NB) and Allain Saulnier (Cap Pele, NB), with Alex beating Drew Owsley (Lethbridge, AB), who was between the pipes for the X-Men, with a snap shot from the top of the slot.
Thierry Comtois (Sherbrooke, QC) notched the other assist for Moncton.
Just more than two minutes later, at 7:22, X-Men captain Rob Slaney (Conception Bay, NL) scored his sixth of the season to tie the score 1-1.
Slaney took a pass from freshman forward Eric Locke (Toronto, ON) and the duo broke in two-on-one against Moncton goaltender Adrien Lemay (Moncton, NB). Slaney kept the puck and beat Lemay under the left arm. For Locke, who garnered the lone assist, it was his 12th point of the regular season.
The X-Men took their first lead at 2:27 of the second period on a goal from Zack MacQueen (Woodstock, ON), whose wrist shot beat Lemay short side. Line-mates Cole Grbavac (Calgary, AB) and Brad Cuzner (Glace Bay, NS) collected assists.
"There was a turnover in the neutral zone and we took advantage," MacQueen said, crediting Cuzner and Grbavac for setting him up.
"I threw it on the net. Sometimes you have to be lucky; I kind of chicken-winged him [Lemay]," he quipped of his first goal of the season.
At 16:06, Steve Lebel (Lemoyne, QC), from Jean-Francois Plante (Sherbrooke, QC) and Danny Chiasson (Lameque, NB), notched the equalizer for the visitors.
Grbavac, on the powerplay, scored the game-winner on assists from Jarrad Struthers (Glace Bay, NS) and Michael Kirkpatrick (North Sydney, NS) at 14:33 of the third period. The junior forward skated out from the side of the net and stuffed it behind Lemay with a smooth move on the forehand.
Owsley made 20 saves for the win and Lemay turned aside 34 shots in the loss.
The three stars of the game were Grbavac, Owsley and Lebel.
Les Aigles Bleus will be back on the ice Saturday, Nov. 22 when they visit the CIS #2 ranked Saint Mary's Huskies in Halifax.
The X-Men will also return to action tomorrow when they host the CIS #3 UNB Varsity Reds.
"We don't want to change anything. We are doing the little things well - getting in on the forecheck and putting pucks to the net," MacQueen said.
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at the Keating Centre.
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