After Week 7 of the AUS men's hockey season, the UPEI Panthers earned their fifth-straight victory, while the UNB Reds skated to their 11th-straight, to sit atop the standings.
The Panthers shut out the Acadia Axemen in Charlottetown Wednesday night. Drake Pilon got the team going early in the game with a powerplay tally, while captain Troy Lajeunesse added the second goal late in the third to secure the win. In net for UPEI, Lucas Fitzpatrick made 19 saves for the shutout victory.
The Panthers then doubled the Saint Mary's Huskies Friday night as rookie forward Ryan Stepien went off for a hattrick to lead UPEI to an 8-4 victory. Matt Brassard assisted on four of those goals, while Kaleb Pearson finished with a goal and two assists for a Panthers squad that has won five straight games and nine of their last 10. Jordan Maher, Kurtis Henry, Drake Pilon and Troy Lajeunesse (PP) all recorded tallies for the Panthers in the win, while Joel Bishop, Walter Flower III, Andrew Coxhead, Jonathan Hampton all found the back of the net for the Huskies in the loss.
The U SPORTS No. 1 ranked UNB Reds used a balanced attack and strong goaltending to beat the StFX X-Men 4-2 on Friday night, at UNB's Aitken Centre. Samuel Richard stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced in the UNB net and was named Subway Player of the Game. Benjamin Corbeil, Simon Pinard (PP), Camaryn Baber and Austen Keating all found the back of the net for UNB, while Jacob Stewart and Liam Hawel recorded tallies for StFX in the loss.
UNB then blanked the Dalhousie Tigers 5-0 on Saturday afternoon in front of a packed Aitken Centre crowd, on Elementary School Day. The Reds were able to ride a stellar powerplay, going 3 for 5, cruising to their 11th straight victory. Goals in the victory came from Simon Pinard (2), Michael Petizian (PP) and Cole MacKay (2), while Griffen Outhouse made 15 saves in net for the shutout.
The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus remain in third in the standings, after splitting their weekend games. They hosted the Tigers in Moncton Friday evening, skating to a 6-1 victory. The Aigles Bleus were led by Nathael Roy, who netted three back-to-back tallies for the hattrick, earning Subway Player of the Game honours. Remy Anglehart also found the back of the net twice in the win, with Maxime Boudreau also adding a goal for the home team. Dalhousie's lone goal came from Ethan O'Rouke, while Felix-Anthony Ethier made 22 saves for the Tigers in the win.
Saturday night, the Aigles Bleus allowed three unanswered goals in the second and third periods to drop a 4-2 decision to the X-Men. Josh Nelson was named Subway Player of the Game for the X-Men, finishing the night with a goal and an assist. Other StFX goals came from Conner Bruggen-Cate, Jacob Hudson (PP) and Ethan Crossman, while Remy Anglehart and Jacob Dion (PP) recorded goals for Moncton in the loss.
Despite their loss to the Panthers Friday, the Huskies picked up four points this week, first topping the StFX X-Men 4-1 in Antigonish Wednesday night. Huskies goals came from Sam King, Keith Getson, Jaxon Bellamy (PP) and Charlie Dafonseca (EN), while Josh Nelson (PP) scored the lone goal for the X-Men.
The Huskies then downed the Acadia Axemen 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night at the Dauphinee Centre. The Huskies kicked off the scoring just over five minutes into regulation with a tally from Connor Olson. Late in the second, Jack Flaman tied things at 1-1, until just moments later, a powerplay tally from Saint Mary's Andrew Coxhead gave the Huskies a 2-1 edge heading into the third. Just under a minute into the third, Peyton Hoyt tied things at 2-2, which would force things into overtime, and eventually a shootout. In the shootout, successful goals from Huskies Johnson and Dafonseca allowed the home team to skate away with the win.
Scores:
Wednesday, Nov. 16
Saint Mary's 4 vs StFX 1
Acadia 0 at UPEI 2
Friday, Nov. 18
StFX 2 at UNB 4
Dalhousie 1 at Moncton 6
Saint Mary's 4 at UPEI 8
Saturday, Nov. 19
Dalhousie 0 at UNB 5
StFX 4 at Moncton 2
Acadia 2 at Saint Mary's 3 (SO)
Current Standings
- UNB Reds (12-2-0) - 24 points
- UPEI Panthers (10-4-0) - 20 points
- Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (9-5-0) - 18 points
- Saint Mary's (7-6-0) - 14 points
- StFX X-Men (6-8-0) - 12 points
- Acadia Axemen (3-8-2) - 8 points
- Dalhousie Tigers (1-12-1) - 3 points