WOLFVILLE, N.S. - The Dalhousie Tigers grabbed an upset win over the CIS No. 3 Acadia Axemen with three unanswered goals to give the Tigers a 5-2 victory. A win over the Tigers would have guaranteed the Axemen a quarterfinal bye, but now Acadia will have to win or tie StFX tomorrow night to capture second place in the AUS final standings.
After an opening ceremony that paid tribute to our Canadian Forces and graduating Acadia Axemen hockey players along with a puck dropping by former SMILE member and an Axemen follower for over 20 years Nick Vidito, the Tigers were quick to jump on the scoreboard.
Second year forward Andrew Rieder (Regina, Sask.) buried a perfectly placed wrist shot from in tight over the shoulder of Brandon Glover (Victoria, B.C.) to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead only one minute and eleven seconds into the opening frame.
Just over 11 minutes later, the Tigers extended the lead to two on the powerplay when Mike Evelyn (Ottawa, Ont.) scored his sixth goal of the season.
The Axemen scored their first of two goals with just over four minutes remaining in the first period when Geoff Schemitsch (Thornhill, Ont.) fired a low shot on Tiger goaltender Wendyl Vye (Moncton, N.B.) to cut the lead to one after one frame. The goal Schemitsch's third of the season and assisted by Matthew Pufahl (Saskatoon, Sask.) & Dylan Anderson (Ottawa, Ont.) on the powerplay.
Seven and a half minutes into the second frame, second star of the game Brett Thompson (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) scored his 18th goal of the regular season. Sam Fioretti (Calgary, Alta.) and Stephen Woodworth (Middleton, N.S.) each added an assist on the tally. Thompson continues to lead the AUS in goal scoring and trails Phillipe Maillet of UNB by three points with 36 but has a game in hand.
Eight seconds after the Axemen killed off a two minute hooking call, Dalhousie scored on a deflected shot off of an Acadia defender. Andrew Langan (Saint John, N.B.) received credit for the goal with Mike Evelyn assisting Dalhousie's go-ahead goal.
Teammate JP Harvey (Cole Harbour, N.S.) extended the lead to two with a goal at 18:34 of the second frame to give Dalhousie a comfortable 4-2 lead.
Harvey scored his second of the night at 8:05 of the final frame to give Dalhousie a convincing 5-2 win over the Axemen, snapping a 10 game losing streak to Acadia dating back to 2012. Harvey earned the games third star for his three point night.
Wendall Vye stole the show for the Tigers, stopping 50 of 52 shots he faced and received the game's first star for his game winning performance. Acadia's Brandon Glover had 20 saves in the losing affair.
The Axemen have a game in hand and are tied with the Saint Mary's Huskies for second place in the AUS and will have to win or tie tomorrow night against StFX to take the quarterfinal bye and finish the regular season in second place.
Source: Acadia Athletics