U SPORTS No. 6 ranked Axemen open 2020 with 5-2 over Huskies

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The U SPORTS No. 6 ranked Axemen open a new year with a 5-2 win over the visiting Saint Mary's Huskies.

The Axemen pick up their fifth win in a row on the back of goaltender Logan Flodell. Flodell was named the Subway Player of the Game with 47 stops on 49 shots.

"Personally, I wanted to get in front of everything and knock anything down that I could to keep the boys in the game. We played so well defensively, I know they had quite a bit of shots but we kept them to the outside. Our PK (penalty kill) was phenomenal today, so that's good," noted Flodell after the game.

Only one goal in the opening period came at the 15:59 mark of the first frame when Mason McCarty scored his ninth goal of the season after batting in a rebound of Huskie goaltender Eric Brassard who stopped 24 shots.

The Axemen extended the lead to 3-0 in the second period with goals from Ryan Foss and Owen MacDonald.

Two minutes into the second period, Foss along with linemates Stephen Harper and Cristiano Digiacinto scored Acadia's second goal on a 3-2 break. Foss was the recipient of a pass from Digiacinto after Harper's shot on the net rebounded on the stick of Digiacinto who fed the puck across the crease to Foss for the easy open net goal.

Owen MacDonald scored 12 seconds later as he crossed the blueline and rang a shot off the post and past Brossard.

The Huskies finally replied less than a minute after MacDonald's goal, when Anthony Repaci closed the lead to 3-1 with a goal off of a centering pass from Stephen Johson.

The flurry of goals continued when Stephen Harper scored at the 4:41 mark of the second period – just over a minute after Repaci's goal to give the Axemen a 4-1 lead.

With 4;10 remaining in the second period, Stephen Johnson cut the Axemen lead in half on a deflected shot in tight by Adam Bateman.

The Axemen sealed the win in the closing minutes of the third period with an empty-net goal with 18 seconds remaining in the game for the 5-2 win.

The Axemen found themselves visiting the penalty box nine times for 26 minutes and giving the Huskies six powerplay opportunities, but great penalty killing by Acadia's special teams warded off any comeback by Saint Mary's.

"…We got away with it, but eventually, that's going to hurt us just because we have to keep killing that many penalties. There are too many good players in this league to keep doing that on a consistent basis. We are addressing it, but sometimes penalties happen. I don't think we were undisciplined on some of the ones we took. It's part of the game at times and so those are the ones they have to kill off and we were fortunate tonight and we did," said assistant coach Mike Alcoe following the Axemen's 5-2 win against the Huskies.

Acadia leads the regular season series 4-0 against the Huskies. The first place Axemen will head to UPEI tomorrow to take on the Panthers at 7:00 pm on the Island.

The Huskies return to action next Friday night against cross-town rival Dalhousie at the Halifax Forum starting at 7:00 pm.