By John DeCoste
The Acadia hockey Axemen sat alone in second place in the conference standings after starting the second half of the schedule with a pair of home wins.
After topping Moncton 5-2 Friday evening, the Axemen completed the weekend sweep with a 3-2 win Saturday over St. Thomas.
On Friday, Jonathan Laberge and Andrew Clark had two goals each to lead the Axemen to a well-earned victory.
Alex Beaton opened the scoring with his seventh goal of the season 1:34 into the second period.
With Moncton on the power play, Acadia’s Michael Ward broke free shorthanded and was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down by the defence. However, goalie P.A. Marion was equal to the test.
The power play continued for the Aigles Bleus, and before it was over, Mathieu Labrie had tied the score at 7:51.
Less than a minute later, Laberge gave the Axemen back the lead. Clark made it 3-1 with an even-strength marker at 11:12.
The second period ended with Acadia ahead 3-2 on the scoreboard and 28-17 in shots on goal.
Clark gave the Axemen some breathing room with an even-strength goal, his 11th of the season, at 12:59 of the third period. Laberge rounded out the scoring at 16:29 on the power play.
On Saturday, Acadia opened the scoring on Laberge’s third goal of the weekend, a power-play marker at 3:54 of the first period.
That lead stood up until 8:18 of the second period, when Brad Gallant tied the score for the Tommies, knocking in the rebound of a shot from Yuri Cheremetiev who was originally credited with the goal.
Newcomer Chris Moulson, who had a pair of assists against Moncton, scored his first goal as an Axemen, an even-strength marker at 17:01 of the second to give Acadia a 2-1 lead.
Again, the Tommies game back, tying the score on Randy Cameron’s goal off a two-on-one break after just 44 seconds of the third period.
The score remained 2-2 until Spencer Jezegou scored on a turnaround shot at the 15-minute mark with the Axemen on the power play. Jezegou’s sixth goal of the season held up as the game-winner.
The Axemen travel to New Brunswick this weekend for games in Moncton Friday and at St. Thomas Saturday, looking to build on a 4-0 start (including exhibition play) since Christmas.
Factbox:
Standings:
Team W L T Pts
UNB 13 2 1 27
Acadia 11 5 1 23
Moncton 11 5 0 22
Saint Mary’s 10 7 1 21
UPEI 10 6 0 21
St. FX 5 9 3 13
St. Thomas 3 11 2 8
Dalhousie 3 12 1 7
