CIS No. 4 Axemen clinch semi-final bye with win

HALIFAX, N.S. - Five unanswered goals clinched a playoff bye for the CIS No. 4 ranked Acadia Axemen as they dropped the Saint Mary's Huskies 5-2 in Halifax in front of 3500 Huskie fans.

Returning from injury, Joe Gaynor started the five goal landslide at the 4:40 mark of the second period only 29 seconds after Saint Mary's took a 2-0 lead on a Francis Menard goal.  

Jamie Doornbosh opened the scoring six minutes into the opening period on a soft shot that Axemen goaltender Evan Mosher lost sight of in a crowd.

Mosher would stop 26 shots after Menard's goal to help the Axemen walk away with their fourth win against the Huskies in the four game season series.

Third year forward and current scoring leader in the AUS, Liam Heelis, scored his 23rd goal of the season to tie the game at two.

Linemate Brett Thompson netted his eleventh goal of the season to give Acadia their first lead of the game. Mike Cazzola assisted on both Heelis' and Thompson's goals.

Travis Randell opened the final period with his third goal of the season to give Acadia a 4-2 lead. Michael Clarke scored on the powerplay with 4:26 remaining in the final frame to give Acadia the bye clinching win.

The Huskies outshot the Axemen 28-26 but were 0 for 4 on the powerplay while Acadia capitalized on one of five powerplay opportunities.

The game was delayed by nearly 45 minutes in the first period when two sheets of glass were broken on a check in the Axemen's end.

Saint Mary's drops to 11-14-0 and sixth place in the standings while Acadia improves to 19-3-3, trailing the first place UNB Varsity Reds by two points. Acadia will wrap up the regular season with three games at home including tomorrow night's game versus the last place Dalhousie Tigers and then next weekend's games against second place Moncton and the league leading Varsity Reds.