Antigonish, NS - The StFX X-Men (6-5) extended their winning streak to four games with a 6-0 win over the UPEI Panthers (4-6-1) in AUS hockey action Friday night.
The more than 700 fans who braved wintry conditions saw the home team jump to a 3-0 lead after the first period.
X-Men assistant captain Nathan Chiarlitti (Maple, ON) opened the scoring at the 3:53 mark when his point shot beat Panther goaltender Matt Mahalak (Monroe, USA). Ted Stephens (Whitehorse, YT) and Eric Locke (Toronto, ON) assisted on the marker.
At 7:38, Stephens made it 2-0 on assists from Locke and Cole Grbavac (Calgary, AB).
Chiarlitti notched his second of the night when he took a pass along the boards from Brad Cuzner (Glace Bay, NS) and darted to the Panther net before beating Mahalak five-hole. Brent Turnbull (Stellarton, NS) collected the other assist for the X-Men.
On the strength of back-to-back goals by Brad Cuzner (Glace Bay, NS), the X-Men led 5-0 after two periods.
At 2:52, Cuzner scored unassisted after the Panthers coughed up the puck in their own zone. After that tally, Connor Wilkinson (Ajax, ON) replaced Mahalak between the pipes for UPEI.
"I had a little bit of luck on that one, but I will take it," Cuzner said of his first goal of the game.
After killing a penalty, the X-Men raced to a two-on-one with Kirkpatrick putting a pass on the tape of Cuzner who made no mistake in making it 5-0. Adam Stevens (Bedford, NS) had the other assist at 6:40.
"It was a great pass from Kirky (Kirkpatrick)," Cuzner said.
The junior forward said the X-Men played a full 60 minutes, noting the team took advantage of a Panther squad with only five defensemen.
"We worked really hard tonight," he added.
The three stars of the game were X-Men Cuzner, Chiarlitti and Drew Owsley (Lethbridge, AB), who made 22 saves for his second consecutive shutout.
StFX outshot UPEI 36-22.
The X-Men return to action Saturday, Nov. 15, when they host the St. Thomas Tommies. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at the Keating Centre.
"We are on a bit of a roll right now. We need to continue to stick to our game plan," Cuzner said.
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