Courtesy Glenn MacDonald, The Chronicle Herald

A four-goal outburst in the third period vaulted the host St. Francis Xavier X-Women to a 6-1 thrashing of the Mount Allison Mounties in the opening game of the Atlantic university conference women’s hockey championship Thursday afternoon in Antigonish.

Leading 2-0 after 40 minutes, Catie Gavin scored 56 seconds into the final frame and then assisted on Erin Brophy’s marker 26 seconds later. Janelle Parent and Brittney Perkins also scored in the third period.

Alex Normore opened the scoring midway through the first period for St. F.X. and Brophy made it 2-0 6:25 into the second.

The Mounties’ Jenica Bastarche spoiled X-Women goalie Kristy Garrow’s shutout bid by scoring on the power play with 1:27 remaining in the contest.

The No. 1-ranked X-Women, who haven’t lost this season after going 24-0 during the regular season, will next face the Dalhousie Tigers on Saturday afternoon. Dal faces the Mounties at 3 p.m. today.

Aigles Bleues 2, Huskies 1: At Antigonish, Marie-Soleil Blais brought a little sunshine to Moncton.

The sophomore forward scored what proved to be the game winner at 13:18 of the second period as No. 2 seed Moncton defeated Saint Mary’s.

Huskies forward Joanie Dubois, a transfer from Moncton, gave SMU a 1-0 lead 3:33 into the second. But Marieve Provost, the CIS all-time leading scorer, knotted it at the 8:29 mark.

Moncton goalie Kathy Desjardins made 19 saves for the win. The Huskies take on the St. Thomas Tommies this evening at 7 p.m. while the Aigles Bleues play STU on Saturday night.

Below is the schedule for the remainder of the Championships:

Friday March 4th
Dalhousie vs Mount Allison 3:00 PM
St. Thomas vs Saint Mary’s 7:00 PM

Saturday March 5th
Dalhousie vs StFX, 3:00 PM
St. Thomas vs Moncton, 7:00 PM

Sunday March 6th
Championship Game, 2:00 PM