Antigonish, NS – Lead by conference leading scorer Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) who scored a hat trick, the STFX X-Men defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 7-4 Saturday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre.
Hawel wasted no time getting the X-Men on the board as he netted a pass from Adam Holwell (St. John's, NL) past Tigers goaltender Alexander MacDonald (Truro, NS) just 28 seconds into the game on X's first shot.
After a flurry of penalties to both squads eight minutes into the game, the X-Men capitalized while on a 4-on-3 advantage. Josh Nelson (Lockport IL) fed defenseman Brendon Clavelle (Kapuskasing, ON) at the top of the slot and he made no mistake beating a screened MacDonald with a low slapshot.
Connor Bruggen-Cate (Langley, BC) made it 3-0 for the home team with a wrap-around goal at 12:39, but the Tigers replied with a power play marker two minutes later. Shaun Miller (Enfield, NS) deposited a rebound off a Cameron Thompson (Victoria, BC) shot to get his team on the board.
The X-Men took the 3-1 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes and lead the Tigers in shots 16-10.
Hawel netted his second goal of the game just under three minutes into the second period. He stole the puck just inside the blue line and circled in, firing an unassisted marker into the Tigers goal.
Jake Stewart (Antigonish, NS) put the X-Men up 5-1 with a shorthanded goal at 11:23 as he took an Ethan Crossman (Sackville, NB) pass and zipped down the left wing alone and beat MacDonald five hole with a low shot.
On the same Tigers power play – which was a double minor – the visitors got two goals back to cut their deficit to 5-3. Liam Peyton (Halifax, NS) potted a rebound off a Jarrett Baker (Black Rock, NS) shot, then Matt Green (Hammonds Plains, NS) connected with Baker who scored the Tigers third goal.
Before the middle frame was over the X-Men would score two more goals to bring the score to 7-3 after 40 minutes.
Hawel scored his third of the game – and 16th of the season – with two and a half minutes left, then 43 seconds later Matthew Struthers (Milton, ON) fed Dallas Farrell (Cardigan, PE) while on a two-on-one to give the X-Men the four-goal advantage.
The X-Men outshot the Tigers 14-9 in the second period.
Dalhousie got a goal back four minutes into the third period as Miller fed a two-on-one pass to Thompson who shot it past an outstretched Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) in the X net.
The Tigers goal stood as the only one in the final period as the game closed out 7-4 in favour of the X-Men. Final shots were 48-27 for STFX as Raaymakers earned his ninth win of the season between the pipes.
Hawel was the game's first star and Subway player of the game for his three-goal performance. STFX forward Stewart was the second star and Tigers forward Miller was the third star.
With the win, the X-Men improve to 13-13-1-0 on the season, and remain in fourth place. They will be back in action Sunday as they travel to Charlottetown to take on the UPEI Panthers in a game rescheduled from Friday night.
Dalhousie will next see action on Friday, February 10th when they travel to Wolfville, NS to take on Acadia.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics
Liam Hawel picked up Subway Player of the Game honours with a hat trick in the X-Men's 7-4 win over Dalhousie tonight! #goxgo pic.twitter.com/0Pelm5nTFs
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) February 5, 2023