Halifax, NS - Connor Roberts led the way with two goals as the STFX X-Men defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 6-2 at the Halifax Forum on Wednesday night.
The first 20 minutes of play saw lots of action from both teams with the home side opening the scoring. With Jacob Hudson (Antigonish, NS) in the box for tripping, Christian Huntley (Halifax, NS) found himself alone in front of the net and buried the rebound off the initial shot by Jarrett Baker (Black Rock, NS).
Just four minutes later Tigers' caption Dillon Boucher (Head Chezzetcook, NS) tipped the clearing puck past the STFX defender and chased it down before snapping a shot by Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) to extend the Dalhousie lead to two.
Shortly after the X-Men found themselves on the man advantage. The reigning AUS MVP Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) made a nice cross ice pass to Josh Nelson (Lockport, IL) who fired a wrist shot past Connor Hicks (Kanata, ON) to make it 2-1.
Another late penalty by Huntley gave StFX their second straight powerplay. On the penalty kill it was Hicks who made a pair of nice saves on back-to-back shifts to retain the 2-1 lead. The first was a glove save on Zack Trott (Mulmur, ON) at the right post. On the next shift Patrick Kyte (Pembroke, ON) was robbed by a sliding Hicks who was able to get his left pad over in time.
Dalhousie led in shots 11-7 at the first intermission.
The second frame kicked off with Brett Crossley (Dartmouth, NS) sending a back hand attempt off the crossbar just one minute in.
Soon after StFX had their first chance of the period and they were able to capitalize. Connor Roberts (Owen Sound, ON) carried the puck off the boards and sent a shot through traffic that got past Hicks to tie the game at two.
Late in the period Hudson was looking to take the lead for the X-Men but his shot rang off the crossbar. Minutes after that chance STFX was finally able to take their first lead of the game. Matthew Philip (Ilderton, ON) entered the offensive zone and made a spin-o-rama pass into the slot to Mark Woolley (St. Thomas, ON) who snapped a shot past Hicks for his first career AUS goal.
The Tigers led in shots 18-17 at the second intermission but it was StFX with the 3-2 lead.
Dalhousie had the first chance of the final frame but again it was the crossbar making the save off the shot by Shaun Miller (Enfield, NS).
Just before the midway mark of the period a scramble ensued in front of the Tigers net. The puck eventually popped loose for Roberts who netted his second of the game extending the STFX lead to 4-2.
Just 47 seconds after that Hawel added another tally for his team when he trailed the rush into the Dalhousie zone. He got a pass to the top of the slot where he snapped home his league leading 12th goal of the year.
Conner Bruggen-Cate (Langley, BC) added a short-handed marker later in the frame as the X-Men went on to take the game by a score of 6-2.
The next game for STFX will see them take on UPEI at home on Friday.
Dalhousie's next game comes on Saturday when they travel to UPEI.
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Recap courtesy Troy Langstaff, Dalhousie Athletics
Connor Roberts earned Subway Player of the Game honours with 2 goals in the X-Men's 6-2 win at Dalhousie tonight! #goxgo #SubwayFuel pic.twitter.com/Hphg574JIy
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) November 24, 2022