Huskies nip X-Men in shootout

HALIFAX, NS – Saint Mary's forward Ben Allison scored the shootout winning goal, and goaltender Marcus Vandenberg stopped 28 shots, leading the Huskies to a 3-2 win over the STFX X-Men in Atlantic University Sport men's hockey action on Wednesday night at the Dauphinee Centre in Halifax.

The Huskies opened the scoring with a powerplay goal just over six minutes into the action, as defenceman Jacob Holmes played a backdoor feed that went through a crowd and found defenceman Ryan Hopkins who roofed a one-timer high past X-Men goaltender Patrick Leaver to put the hosts ahead 6:11 into the first.

Saint Mary's were able to generate several more scoring chances, but Leaver was sharp. The Huskies outshot the X-Men 14-7 through the opening 20 minutes and took the 1-0 lead into first intermission.

Just over a minute into the second period, the Huskies doubled their lead as Charlie Da Fonseca fired a shot from the point, that was tipped by forward Dylan Andrews into the X-Men net.

The X-Men cut into the lead midway through the period with a shorthanded goal from forward Cole Stewart as he dispossessed a Husky in their own end and quickly deked to the backhand, beating Marcus Vandenberg.

The Huskies outshot the X-Men 14-13 in the second period, and took a 2-1 lead into second intermission.

STFX were able to equalize with a powerplay goal just over a minute into the third as forward Logan O'Neil made a nice pass in front to X-Men captain Logan Chisholm who beat Vandenberg to tie it at 2-2.

Leaver continued his strong play in the visitor's crease, making a pair of great saves on Huskies forwards Allison and Connor Trenholm, and the two teams headed into overtime.

In overtime, the Huskies had several more great scoring opportunities, but were unable to capitalize, and the game would be decided by shootout.

In the shootout, Leaver denied Reid Valade, and Vandenberg stopped Ryan McGuire. Then, Da Fonseca scored a backhand goal, and Vandenberg stopped Aaron Brown, setting up Allison for the shootout winning goal.

The Huskies outshot the X-Men 45-30 on the night, with Vandenberg being named player of the game with 28 saves, while Leaver turned away 42 shots in defeat.

The Saint Mary's win improves their record to 11-6-0-2 on the campaign, bumping them up to third place in the AUS standings. The Huskies next take on the Dalhousie Tigers (1-16-1-1) on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Halifax Forum.

The X-Men loss drops their record to 7-10-0-2. They'll also hit the road on Saturday, visiting the Acadia Axemen (12-4-1-2) at 7 p.m. at Andrew H. McCain Arena in Wolfville, N.S.

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Recap by Allan April / Saint Mary's Huskies Athletics