Halifax, NS - Fans of goal scoring were in for a treat at the Dauphinee Centre on Wednesday night as the StFX X-Men defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies by an 8-6 score.
The Huskies, coming into the game with a 7-8-1 record, were looking for a strong finish the home portion of their schedule against the U SPORTS #6 ranked X-Men (11-5-1).
Early in the game, Huskies defenceman Bradley Johnson was sent to the box for tripping. The X-Men capitalized on the man-advantage as AUS leading scorer Liam Hawel played the puck through the middle to a streaking Josh Nelson who put a low backhand shot past Huskies goal Xavier Potvin to give the X-Men a 1-0 lead.
Several minutes later the Huskies were back in penalty trouble, but were able to kill of a two-man advantage. After both penalties expired, Huskies forward Sam Kingwas taken down by a hook from the stick of Hawel, and it was the Huskies turn to take advantage of a powerplay.
The Huskies quickly took advantage, as captain Mitchell Balmas played a beautiful pass between two X-Men defenders right onto to the stick of Brett Neumann, who sniped it top shelf over X-Men goaltender Joseph Raaymakers to tie the game at 1-1 with just over 7 minutes remaining in the first.
It was a dazzling debut by Neumann, a highly touted recruit making his first regular season appearance with the Huskies after being injured in the preseason, and finished the game with two goals and one assist.
Several minutes later the Huskies took the lead, after Logan DeNoble intercepted a pass in the X-Men defensive zone and sent Neumann in on goal. His shot was stopped by Raaymakers, but Jonathan Hampton was able to put home the rebound to give Saint Mary's a 2-1 lead.
The X-Men outshot the Huskies 11-5 in the first period.
Just minutes into the second period, X-Men forward Conner Bruggen-Cate took a five minute major and game misconduct for a hit to the head.
The Huskies got several shots on the five minute power play, but we're unable to capitalize. Raaymakers made a nice sliding save on Huskies forward Nathan Dunkley to keep the X-Men within a goal.
Just moments after returning to even strength, X-Men forward Roddie Sandilands scored his first goal of the season when he fired a shot through Potvin to tie the game at two.
The Huskies quickly took the lead back as Dunkley won a race to the puck and delivered a pass onto the stick of Balmas, who scored his 12th of the season to give the home team a 3-2 lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the second.
After a scoring opportunity by Justin MacPherson, the X-Men quickly capitalized on the counterattack, with a great individual effort by Matthew Struthers, who picked the puck up behind his own net and went the distance down the right wing before cutting inside and firing a shot past Potvin for his 9th on the season.
With just over a minute remaining in the second period, Saint Mary's took the lead back, after Raaymakers clearance attempt was intercepted by Balmas, who played it in front to Neuman who sniped home his second of the season.
The X-Men outshot the Huskies 8-6 in the second period.
The Huskies continued that momentum into the third period, off a nice goal by Cedric Ralph, who took a pass down the left wing, cut between two defenders, and fired a shot while falling to the ice that beat Raaymakers shortside to make the game 5-3, 2:11 into the third period.
The old adage of a dangerous two-goal lead proved true in this one, as the X-Men picked up the offensive pressure and scored five unanswered goals over the next 15 minutes.
First, was Matthew Struthers, banking in his own rebound off a faceoff in the Huskies zone to cut the Huskies lead to 5-4 at the 4:20 mark.
Less than two minutes later, Hawel tied it up at five, taking the puck from behind the net and walking it out in front to beat Potvin with a high shot.
The next five minutes saw the game tighten up, with few chances for either team, before a William Bower point shot was directed into the Huskies net by Declan Smith to give the X-Men the 6-5 lead, their first lead since the game was 1-0 early in the first period.
The Huskies Nathan Dunkley had a good chance to equalize, but his shot went wide. Moments later, the X-Men added to their lead as a harmless looking shot from Will Thompson took a bounce off a Huskies defender and beat Potvin to give the X-Men a two goal lead with just over 5 minutes remaining.
The Huskies had several more chances but Raaymakers shut the door. With just under two minutes remaining, Saint Mary's pulled the goalie and Neuman and Coxhead were denied by Raaymakers. Matthew Philip then iced it with an empty net goal, his 13th of the season, with 34 seconds remaining.
The Huskies would score once more to make the score look a bit more even, as Dunkley put home a rebound with five seconds remaining, but it was too little too late, as the X-Men won 8-6.
The X-Men outshot the Huskies 33-21 in the game, with X-Men goaltender Raaymakers making 16 saves, compared to Potvin's 24.
X-Men forward Matthew Struthers was named first star and Subway Player of the Game with a pair of goals, his ninth and 10th of the season. Struthers is second in the conference in scoring, trailing only his teammate and the game's second star Liam Hawel, who had a four point night (one goal, three assists) and leads the conference with 14 goals and 28 points.
Huskies forward Brett Neuman was named third star of the game with two goals and one assist in his Saint Mary's debut.
With the win, StFX finishes the 2021 portion of their schedule with a record of 12-5-1, good for second place in the conference. The X-Men will be back in AUS action on Friday, Jan. 7, as they host the Huskies in a rematch in Antigonish.
It was the Huskies third straight loss, dropping them to 7-9-1 on the campaign, and fifth place in the AUS. The Huskies will look to snap their three game losing streak this Friday, as they 'visit' their hometown rivals from Dalhousie at the Halifax Forum.
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Courtesy SMU Sports Information
Congrats to Subway Player of the game Matthew Struthers, joined by our captain Santino Centorame! Matt scored 2 goals in the X-Men's 8-6 win over SMU! #SubwayFuel pic.twitter.com/7Ywl12fL7E
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) December 2, 2021