By John DeCoste
The Acadia hockey Axemen tuned up for the second half of their AUHC schedule by sweeping a pair of holiday exhibition games.
The Axemen doubled St. Thomas 4-2 Dec. 30 in Wolfville and blanked St. F. X. 4-0 Jan. 2 in Berwick, improving their overall season record to 16-8-1.
Head coach Darren Burns, said he felt his players “got better as the game went on” against the Tommies and “had a good second and third period” against the X-men.
Against St. Thomas, Acadia led 1-0 after one period on a power play goal by Chris Owens, then extended its lead to 3-0 after 40 minutes on goals by Paul Kurceba and Graham Bona.
Jordan Scott got St. Thomas on the board early in the third period, but Liam Heelis restored the three-goal lead midway through the period. Chris Morehouser rounded out the scoring with a power play goal for the Tommies with 5:46 left on the clock.
In Berwick, the Axemen took on the X-men in a Jan. 2 fundraiser for the Kings Mutual Century Centre with more than 800 fans in attendance.
After a scoreless opening period, the Axemen did all their scoring in the second period for a 4-0 lead that stood up the rest of the way.
Spencer Jezegou opened the scoring, then freshman Alex Beaton struck for three straight goals, the first two within a minute of each other and the third a power play marker with six minutes left in the period.
Newest Axemen Chris Moulson saw his first game action for Acadia and ended up assisting on two goals.
Evan Mosher and Peter DiSalvo shared the shutout in the Acadia net.
While several Axemen who missed time in the first half of the season due to injury have returned to the lineup, three other players have been relegated to the sidelines.
Defenceman Leo Jenner, who ruptured his spleen in November, is likely to be out for at least another month following surgery. Ryan Graham, who has not played all season, and rookie forward Joel Ridgeway remain sidelined with concussion symptoms.
