Axemen split opening weekend with 2-1 loss to StFX

Antigonish, NS - The STFX X-Men hockey team gave the home crowd something to cheer about with a 2-
1 victory over the Acadia Axemen Saturday night at the Keating Centre in a closely contested game.

The first two periods saw a lot of action but no goals scored as both Acadia's Logan Flodell (Regina, SK)
and STFX's Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) kept clean sheets though 40 minutes.

There was no shortage of hits, and a minor boondoggle near the end of the second period resulted in
10-minute misconducts for X's Declan Smith (Antigonish, NS) and Acadia's Nicholas Deakin-Poot
(Georgetown, ON).

STFX struck first in the third period with Matthew Philip (Ilderton, ON) finding twine while the X-Men
were on a two-man power play. Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) fed STFX captain Santino Centorame
(Mississauga, ON) in the low slot who fired a shot with Phillip banging in the rebound at the 2:02 mark.

Acadia made it a game just over a minute and a half later when Peyton Hoyt (Fredericton, NB) picked up
the puck in the neutral zone and fired a shot from the slot that eluded Raaymakers.

The X-Men scored the game winning goal at 11:41 of the third period on a nice tic-tac-toe play. Zack
Trott (Mulmur, ON) made a pass to Hawel across the slot, then Hawel snapped it right back to him and
Trott buried the puck in the wide open Axemen goal. Matthew Struthers (Milton,ON) had the other
assist on the play.

Acadia made things interesting with a power play with 17 seconds remaining in the game, but the X-
Men held on for the victory.

With the win, STFX moves to 2-0-0 early in the regular season, while Acadia falls to 1-1.

Flodell earned the third star of the game for his 34 save performance. STFX's Hawel received the second
star, and X goaltender Raaymakers was the first star and Subway player of the game with his 32 saves
and second win on the young season.

After the game, Raaymakers gave credit to the team for his performance.

STFX next hits the ice on Wednesday to take on Dalhousie at home, while Acadia heads to UNB on Wednesday and hosts Moncton on Friday.