X-Men comeback falls short against Aigles Bleus

Moncton, NB - The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, faced tough opposition in the second period and finally earned a 6-3 win over the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men on Friday evening at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena for the opening game of the 2024-25 Atlantic University Sport men's hockey season.

The Aigles Bleus led 32 (16-10-6) to 29 (8-11-10) in shots on goal. Goaltender Olivier Adam, the second star of the game, kept his team in the game, especially in the first period. Lucas Pfeil (33 minutes, 1 goal) and Patrick Leaver (23 minutes, 4 goals) shared the duties in net for the X-Men.

Nathaël Roy scored his team's first goal of the new season unassisted at 7:45 of the first period. Yannic Bastarache (Mercier, Doucet) followed seven minutes later, and Jeremy Michel (Horth, Cyr) scored the third tally at 16:41 as Moncton held a 3-0 lead after the first period.

Antoine Roy (Pelletier) scored his first of his university career at 2:28 of the second period, and Michael Horth (Cyr) also scored his first university goal at 10:48 to give the Aigles Bleus a 5-0 lead.

On the power play, X-Men forward Zack Trott (Burroughs, Christopoulos) scored STFX first goal of the AUS season at 14:18. Charlie Callaghan (Struthers) and Logan Chisholm (Trott) quickly found the target and reduced the home team's lead to 5-3 in the span of five minutes late in the second, giving life to their team in preparation for the third.

Both teams played with intensity in the final period and the only goal was Mika Cyr's empty-net goal at 18:57 to secure the win for his team and garner himself the first star and player of the game.

The X-Men had two 5-on-3 advantages without being able to score, the second of which came at the end of the third period. STFX scored once on six power play attempts, while Moncton was 0 for 3. 

The Aigles Bleus are back on home ice Saturday night at 7 p.m. when they host the Dalhousie Tigers. The X-Men will travel to Fredericton to face-off against UNB, also Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

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Recap courtesy Normand Leger, UdeM Athletics