Antigonish, NS – The StFX X-Men dropped a 6-2 game to the U SPORTS No. 1 ranked UNB Reds Saturday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre.
The Reds took control of the game early on and never let the X-Men get close.
They opened the game with a pair of first period goals. Matthew Boucher (Quebec City, QC) scored on the power play midway through off a rebound and captain Marcus McIvor Whitby, ON) beat X-Men netminder Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) five-hole to give them a 2-0 edge after 20 minutes.
The Reds outshot the home squad 22-9 in the opening period.
The second period was dominated by the AUS second place Reds as they held the X-Men without a shot on goal until late in the period, responding with 17 shots of their own and four goals.
Alexandre Goulet (Disraeli, QC), Tyler Boland (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) and Kris Bennett (Brampton, ON) with a pair, provided the scoring power for the Reds in the middle frame. Bennet scored back-to-back goals just over two minutes apart, his first coming on the man advantage.
The X-Men responded with a late goal with eight seconds remaining in the period as Jeremiah Addison (Etibicoke, ON) was finally able to crack the goose egg. After the Reds blocked a Cole MacDonald (Wetaskiwin, AB) shot, the puck found its way directly onto the stick of Addison who fired it into the open side of the Reds goal.
The second period also saw 28 penalty minutes between the two squads as the Reds took a comfortable 6-1 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes.
The third period was relatively quiet both in the penalty box and on the scoresheet. Matt Graham (Bedford, NS) scored the lone goal for the X-Men with five minutes remaining in the game as he was open in the slot and coverted a pass from Adam Holwell (St. John's, NL).
Samuel Harvey (Alma, QC) earned the win in the Reds net with 13 saves. Raaymakers was tagged with the loss, turning aside 42 of 48 UNB shots on the night.
The Reds earned a sweep of the game's three stars as Goulet was the third star, Boland was second star and Bennett claimed first star and Subway player of the game honours with his two goal, two assist effort.
Fifth year Reds forward Stephen Anderson (Morell, PE) picked up three assists on the night and Olivier LeBlanc (Quebec City, QC) was strong on defense as the Reds shut down StFX's offense.
With the win, UNB improves to 15-4-0 on the season. They will take to the ice again on Friday, January 10th when they host the UPEI Panthers.
The X-Men are also back in action on Friday, hosting the Acadia Axemen. Puck drop for both games is 7:00 pm.
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Courtesy Krista McKenna, StFX Sports Information