Moncton, NB – The U Sports No. 5 ranked X-Men hockey team dropped a 4-2 decision on the road to the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus Friday evening in the final AUS regular season game prior to the Christmas break.
Jean-François Plante's second goal of the game with only 28 seconds left in the third period broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Aigles Bleus the victory. Allain Saulnier then potted an empty netter.
StFX forward Mark Tremaine opened the scoring in the game at 10:26 of the first period off a Michael Clarke helper.
The X-Men held an 11-6 shot advantage in the first period and the 1-0 lead held heading into intermission.
Adam Stevens increased the X-Men lead with a goal 2:23 into the second period, off an Eric Locke set-up.
Plante finally got the home team on the board with a marker at 11:16 from Alex Saulnier and Allain Saulnier.
The Aigles Bleus tied it up while on the power play at 17:36 with a Mitchell Robillard goal from Marc-Anthony Therrien and Robbie Graham.
Shots were fairly event at 11-10 for StFX in the second period.
The Aigles Bleus outshot the X-Men 17-5 in the third period though StFX netminder Chase Marchand held his ground up until Plante's tying goal. Pierre Durepos and Allain Saulnier had the helpers.
Saulnier's unassisted goal 16 seconds later sealed the 4-2 victory for Moncton as they outshot the X-Men 33-27.
Brandon Thibeau earned the win between the pipes for the Aigles Bleus with 25 saves while Marchand (29 saves) was tagged with the loss.
Plante took home Subway player of the game honors as the Aigles Bleus close out the first half of the season in sixth place with a 7-10-1 record.
The X-Men (11-7-0) dip to third place with 23 points, one behind second place Acadia (11-5-1) and six points back of the first place UNB Varsity Reds (13-2-2).
StFX will resume AUS regular season play in the New Year with a game against the Varsity Reds in Fredericton on Friday, January 6th. The Aigles Bleus will travel to Halifax for a Jan. 4th game against Saint Mary's.