WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The Acadia Axemen (4-1-1) ended their weekend on a high note, defeating the UPEI Panthers (2-4-0) 8-2 on Saturday in Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey action, while extending their winning streak to three games.
Acadia's rookies had a strong showing, with Ryan Foss, Owen MacDonald and defenceman Michael Zipp all scoring their first goal of their USports career.
Acadia opened the scoring early, with a power-play marker 48 seconds into the first period and continued their torrent scoring pace, gaining a 4-1 lead by periods end.
Axemen forward Rodney Southam took a pass from Boston Leier and buried a well-placed wrist shot into the top left corner of the net to make it 1-0.
Acadia added to their lead before the half way mark of the first, when Subway First Star of the night Ryan Foss scored on a 2-on-1, executed to perfection.
Foss added an assist less than a minute later, giving the puck to Remy Giftopoulos, who fired the puck into the open net to make it 3-0.
"It was a big game for us. We didn't want to come into it with too much of a high and not play our game today, but we got off to a good start in the first (period) and it set the momentum for the rest of the game," said Foss after the game.
Scoring their fourth goal on just their eighth shot of the night, forward Kyle Farrell took a pass from Stephen Harper and lifted the puck into the top left corner of the net to make it 4-0.
UPEI had an early goal called off due to a high-stick, but they got on the board near the end of the first.
Panthers forward Filip Rydstrom got the puck in tight and lifted it over Axemen goaltender, Dawson Carty's blocker to make it 4-1.
Acadia continued to dominate in the second, despite trailing in shots for most of the period.
Axemen defenseman Liam Maaskant scored his second goal of the weekend with a hard wrist shot perfectly placed into the top right corner of the net.
The Panthers responded on the power-play, with a wrap-around goal from Gabe Guertler to make it 5-2.
Acadia responded with two more goals in the period from forward Boston Leier on the power-play and rookie defenseman Michael Zipp to put Acadia up 7-2 heading into the third.
The Axemen added their eighth goal of the game late in the final frame, on a wrist shot from third star of the night, Owen MacDonald.
Second star of the night went to UPEI defenseman Ryan MacKinnon.
Axemen goaltender Dawson Carty stopped 32 of 34 shots, while his UPEI counterpart Matthew Mancina was replaced after allowing four goals on eight shots. The Panthers backup, Matt Mahalak turned aside 22 of 26 shots.
The Panthers are at home next weekend. They’ll host Saint Mary’s on Friday at 7 p.m. before hoping to exact revenge on the Axemen at MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown on Saturday at 7 p.m.
