CIS No. 3 Axemen set the stage for “winner takes all” game versus UNB

WOLFVILLE, N.S. - The CIS No. 3 ranked Acadia Axemen brought the love in a Valentine's Day match up against the CIS No. 10 Moncton Blue Aigles, despite not having the service of AUS leading goal scorer Liam Heelis.

Dylan Anderson, named the Subway Third Star of the Game, scored twice, as the Axemen defeated the Aigles Bleus 5-2 and extended their winning streak to four.

AUS leading goaltender Evan Mosher stopped 17 of 19 shots as the Axemen posted a 35-19 shots on net advantage.

Senior defenseman Chris Owens played a strong game, collecting 2 assists and received the second star of the game for his performance.

A physical first period was scoreless but saw many big hits on both sides of the ice.

After a scoreless first period where Acadia outshot Moncton 14-5, the Axemen struck first with Dylan Anderson's sixth goal of the season on a deflected pass from Chris Owens to give Acadia 1-0 lead midway through the second period.

Acadia's lone powerplay goal of the night came from second year forward Brett Thompson who found the puck in mid-air and with great hand-eye co-ordination batted one past Moncton's Adrien Lemay.

With just over a minute remaining in the second period, the Axemen took a commanding 3-0 lead on KC Brown's third goal of the season after Joe Gaynor came out of the penalty box to steal and center the puck below the goal line to a wide-open Brown who went glove side for the eventual game winning goal. Joe Gaynor was given the honour as the AUS Subway First Star of the Game .

Thirty two seconds into the final period, Alex Noel scored Moncton's first goal of the night.  Eight minutes later after killing off a penalty, Moncton's Simon Lacroix applied pressure in the offensive zone resulting in his fifth goal of the season, cutting the lead to one.

Acadia's Scott Trask scored just 24 seconds after Moncton's second goal, giving Acadia some breathing room.

Dylan Anderson scored his second goal of the night at 17:16  on an innocent looking shot from the blue line that deflected off of a Moncton stick and bounced past the Lemay, to give Acadia their fourth win in a row.

Acadia's final regular season game is tomorrow night against the CIS No. 2 ranked UNB Varsity Reds. Acadia improves to 21-3-3 with the win over Moncton and trail UNB by two points for first place. Acadia will have a chance to capture first place in the final standings with a regulation time win over the Varsity Reds. Acadia leads the season series 2-1, defeating UNB 5-1 the last time they visited Wolfville.

Submitted by Mitchell Racine