Antigonish, NS - The Saint Mary's Huskies made the most of their chances in a hard fought 3-2 win over the STFX X Men at Keating Centre on Saturday night.
Huskies defenseman Zachary Hoffman (Newcastle, ON) put the visitors on the scoreboard at 13:21 of the first period while shorthanded as he fired a screened shot past X netminder Blade Mann-Dixon (Antigonish, NS). Dennis Busby (Oro-Mendonte, ON) and Sam King (Hampton, NB) had the assists on the play.
Saint Mary's led the way in shots with a 17-7 advantage at the end of the first period as the lone goal held up after 20 minutes.
At 10:04 of the second stanza, Will Bower (Saint John, NB) brought the X-Men level after converting a great pass from Sam Allison (Cole Harbour, NS). Zach Trott (Mulmur, ON) had the other assist.
Saint Mary's pulled ahead at 13:36 with an unassisted goal off the stick of Dawson Theede (Brooklin, ON).
The Huskies increased their lead to 3-1 at the 18:37 mark with a goal in close from Logan DeNoble (Peterborough, ON) off a quick pass from Nathan Dunkley (Campbellford, ON). Sam Dunn (Hamilton, ON) picked up the second helper on the play.
Saint Mary's led in shots after the second period, 32-21.
Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) got one back for X while on the power play, potting a rebound from Trott. X-Men captain Santino Centorame (Mississauga, ON) had the other assist.
The X-Men pressed at the end of the period but could not find the equalizer. Final shots at were 41-35 in favour of Saint Mary's.
Justin Sumarah (Halifax, NS) earned the win in the Huskies net with 29 saves. Mann-Dixon was tagged with the loss for X, turning aside 38 pucks.
The X-Men continue their pre-season schedule with a re-match against Saint Mary's on Saturday, October 2nd in Truro, NS.
They will also face-off against the Huskies when AUS regular season play commences on October 9th. That game will be played in Halifax at 7:00 pm.
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Courtesy Matt Draper, STFX Sports Information