Hockey Axemen grab 4-1 win over NCAA Quinnipiac

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team lost to Acadia, 4-1, in an exhibition game at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports in Hamden, Conn.

The Bobcats scored early in the first period when Derek Smith's (Apple Valley, Minnesota) shot from the point was knocked down in front of Acadia goalie Brandon Glover. K. J. Tiefenwerth (Bellmore, New York) picked up the rebound and zipped the puck across the crease to Tim Clifton (Matawan, New Jersey) in the opposite face-off circle. Clifton's one-timer beat Glover stick-side to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.

The second period tilted towards Acadia, as the Axemen scored three times to jump out to a 3-1 lead, scoring a short-handed goal and converting on two power plays. CIS Most Valuable Player of the Year, Liam Heelis (Georgetown, Ont.) scored the Axemen's first goal of the game when he picked up a puck in the neutral zone, made a move around a Quinnipiac defensman and ended up with a one-on-one opportunity. Heelis faked left, brought the puck around to his right and then beat Quinnipiac freshman goalie Sean Lawrence (Granite Bay, California) with the backhand.

Less than two minutes later, Acadia worked the puck in deep with Boston Leier (Saskatoon, Sask.) taking a pass from Mike Cazzola (Guelph, Ont.) and firing on Lawrence from the slot. The puck bounced out of Lawrence's pads to his left where Leier was able to get a stick on it and punch it past Lawrence to give Acadia a 2-1 lead.

With just under six minutes to play in the period, Acadia skated with a 5-on-3 advantage with two Bobcats in the box. Acadia moved the puck around the Bobcats' half of the ice before  Cazzola zipped a pass across the Bobcats zone to Matthew Pufahl (Saskatoon, Sask.), who touch-passed the puck to the opposite post to Zachary Franko (Winnipeg, Man.) for the one-timer on a virtually wide-open net.

With less than five minutes to play, Acadia added another goal as Franko picked up a loose puck in front of the Bobcats bench and pushed it up-ice to Leier. Leier skated between the face-off circles and sent a pass to Cazzola who fired a shot from the face-off circle to the right of Jacob Meyers (Chanhassen, Minnesota) that beat the Bobcats' goalie stick-side.

Head coach Darren Burns noted that Quinnipiac is a strong NCAA team and the calibre played by the No. 15th ranked team was well noted by his team. "Our guys competed very hard tonight and played with lots of composure. We knew Quinnipiac would be strong. They came out hard and scored early. But our guys got better as the game went on".

Quinnipiac opens the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 11 when it hosts Bentley at 7 p.m. at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. The Axemen head to Boston to take on the Northeastern Huskies on Sunday, October 5 at 4pm (AST) before heading home to Wolfville. The Axemen open the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Dalhousie.

Submitted in part by Quinnipiac Sports Information Office