FREDERICTON (U SPORTS) – Acadia forward Michael Clarke (Halifax, N.S.) had two goals in the first period, and Daniel Petterson (Toronto, Ont.) added two in the second to lead the Axemen to a 7-3 win over StFX, in the bronze medal game at the 2017 U SPORTS Cavendish Farms University Cup.
University Cup website: www.universitycup.ca
Acadia led 2-0 after 20 minutes, but Sam Studnicka (Windsor, Ont.) scored for the X-Men just 14 seconds into the second period tocut the deficit in half . Acadia would forge ahead though for good, scoring four more in the frame to put the game away. Boston Leier (Saskatoon, Sask.) found the back of the net at 12:03, followed just 31 seconds later by Liam Maaskant (Clinton, Ont). Petterson then tallied his first of two at 13:30, before Eric Locke's (Toronto, Ont.) power play marker with 1:34 to go. Petterson, would add his second with 22 seconds to play in the frame.
Nathan Pancel (Ottawa, Ont.) StFX within three just under three and a half minutes into the third before Taylor Makin (Lethbridge, Alta.) rounded out the scoring for Acadia with a power play goal at 19:44
Acadia outshot StFX 34-29 in the contest.
The game was the ninth meeting of the season between the two teams, with StFX winning both the season series 4-1 and the best-of-five AUS semifinal 3-0.
Acadia head coach Darren Burns said the bronze medal was a nice way to finish the season, afater coming into the tournament seeded eighth. .
"This shows the passion of our players," he said. "Guys played with integrity and character. It was tough to turn around after yesterday's loss, but we had to pick up and battle on, and we did."
On the other side, StFX head coach Brad Peddle said the turn-around was not an easy one for his players, after falling to Saskatchewan 8-0 in Saturday's semifinal
"It is a different experience playing at 9:30 Sunday morning. Twelve hours ago, we were just getting around to our post-game meal," said Peddle.
"It certainly wasn't the start we wanted, and we talked about that between the first and second period, then we came out strong in the second. We got some bad bounces and they capitalized on our mistakes."
Official Boxscore: http://en.usports.ca/championships/mice/2017/boxscores_champ/20170319_9ipi.xml
Source: U SPORTS Communications