(MONCTON, N.B.) - A goal by rookie Mitchell Robillard at 14:39 of the second period gave the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (2-0) a 3-2 win over the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men (0-1) in the opening home game of the 2014-15 AUS men's hockey season at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena, Friday evening.
Moncton's Thierry Comtois (from Luc Williams and Danick Emond) opened the scoring at 6:18 of the first period.
X-Men Robert Slaney (from Jagger Dirk and Michael Kirkpatrick ) and Cole Grbavac (from Ted Stephens and Jarrad Struthers ) scored 40 seconds apart on the power play in the first period to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
Allain Saulnier (from Mathieu-Martin and Alex Emond) then scored the equalizer for the Aigles at 6:47 of the second.
Robillard (from Samuel Groulx), on the penalty kill for Moncton, then stole the puck at the blue line and went all alone towards goaltender Morgan Clark who he beat on the blocker side.
The X-Men had a 36-32 advantage on shots on goal. Adrien Lemay was the winner in front of the net with a number of key saves.
"There was a lot of intensity in this game tonight," said Aigles head coach Serge Bourgeois. "We were dominating in the first when we had penalty problems that stopped our momentum and rhythm."
"We did practice our penalty kill tonight and we played a good team," he continued. "Adrien Lemay made a number of key saves. He played with confidence and we need that. The rookies scored and collected assists, they played well, even on the penalty kill."
Goaltender Adrien Lemay had just finished a three-hour exam before the game. "My parents came from Québec to attend the game and that gave me a boost," he said. "We had a good week of practices and the coach asked me to be calm. I was in my bubble tonight."
Of his game-winning goal, Robillard said, "The player missed his pass and I jumped on the puck and went to the goaltender. I got it in. It was nice to score in front of a big crowd and it relieves some pressure."
The Aigles will now host Dalhousie University Tigers Saturday, while the X-Men visit the UNB Varsity Reds. Puck drop in both games is set for 7 p.m.
Source: Moncton Sports Information