Axemen dropped by No. 4 ranked Huskies in Halifax

HALIFAX, N.S. - The Saint Mary's Huskies kept their perfect record alive with a 4-0 victory over the Acadia Axemen Wednesday night at the Dauphinee Centre. 

U SPORTS released their latest rankings on Tuesday which saw the Huskies punch their way into the top ten at #4 in the country. SMU came out of the gates with confidence, but the visiting Axemen were up to the task of bringing a physical style of play to counter. 

The first good chance off the game came seven minutes into the frame when the Huskies worked the puck across the offensive zone with the shot from Sam King (Hampton, NB) ringing off the post. 

Saint Mary's took back-to-back penalties which gave Acadia 27 seconds of 5-on-3. They were unable to capitalize and as the Huskies got back to even strength Nathan Dunkley (Campbellford, ON) came off the bench, collected the puck in the neutral zone, carried it across the blue line, and used the defender as a screen, fired a wrist shot past Conor McCollum (Pickering, ON) to open the scoring. 

Acadia took a penalty eight seconds after the goal and SMU almost extended their lead. A quick shot from Andrew Coxhead (Bedford, NS) in the slot was saved by McCollum and Bradey Johnson's (Lindsay, ON) second-chance opportunity was also thwarted by the third-year goalie. 

Shots were 9-9 at the first intermission. 

Saint Mary's was unable to score on an early powerplay in the second period but just minutes later Joel Bishop (St. John's, NL) was tripped up on a breakaway which awarded him a penalty shot. On the attempt he skated in slow and tried to slide the puck five-hole, but McCollum made a stick save. 

It wouldn't take long though for the Huskies to get another chance. The Axemen got caught on a bad change, resulting in a 3-on-2 rush for SMU. Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) fed a pass to Keith Getson (Bridgewater, NS) who snapped a shot underneath the arm of McCollum to extend the lead to 2-0. 

Acadia had a chance to get back in the game when an unsuccessful but dangerous powerplay turned into five straight minutes of offensive zone time without a whistle. The best chance came on a spin-o-rama pass from Nicholas Poot (Georgetown, ON) to Merrick Rippon (Ottawa, ON) who launched a shot off Matthew Welsh's (Halifax, NS) mask. Seconds later Cole Rafuse (Kingston, ON) just narrowly missed the open net on a backhand try. The Axemen dominated play for the five-minute stretch and fired eight shots on goal during that time but could not beat Welsh. 

Minutes later Reilly Webb (Stoney Creek, ON) got a two-minute minor and 10-minute misconduct for hitting from behind putting the Huskies on the powerplay. During the man advantage Dawson Theede (Brooklin, ON) slid a pass into the slot for a wide-open Coxhead who fired the shot off the post and in to give SMU the 3-0 lead. 

Acadia led in shots 25-19 after 40 minutes of play.  

Just three and a half minutes into the final period the home side would add another tally. This time it was Charlie Dafonseca (Thornhill, ON) who, off a SMU clearing attempt, beat the Acadia defender in a race to the puck then went in on a partial break before flipping the puck over McCollum's shoulder.  

Liam Kidney (Enfield, NS) had a great chance to answer for Acadia when he went in a breakaway of his own but snapped the shot wide of the net. The Axemen got another late 2-on-1 chance but it resulted in another pad save by Welsh off the shot by Kidney. 

Saint Mary's held on for the 4-0 victory. Welsh made 28 saves for his 2nd shutout of the year and earned AUS Player of the Game honours. 

With the loss, the Axemen record drops to 2-2 on the season. Acadia's next test comes on Saturday when they host the UPEI Panthers in Wolfville. 

The Huskies win improved their record to 4-0 on the season, with an impressive +14 goal differential. Saint Mary's will travel to Charlottetown on Friday to take on the Panthers. Puck drop is 7 p.m.  

Recap by Troy Langstaff / SMU Huskies Athletics 
Photos by Mona Ghiz / SMU Huskies Athletics