Big second period lifts Aigles Bleus over X-Men

Moncton, NB – A five-goal second period was the difference on Friday night as the Moncton Aigles Bleus took a 9-3 win over the STFX X-Men at J-Louis Levesque Arena.

The X-Men got out to a 2-1 lead after the first period thanks to goals from Charlie Callaghan and Jacob Maillet. Maillet set up Callaghan for the first goal 2:16 into the game as he won a face-off in the offensive zone and got the puck right back to Callaghan who made no mistake on his shot from the point.

The Aigles Bleus tied it up with a goal from Michael Horth at 5:53 as he deposited a rebound.

Maillet replied with an unassisted marker three minutes later when he stole the puck in front of the Moncton net then beat goaltender Nathan Darveau with a quick shot.

After a relatively even second period for the majority of play, the Aigles Bleus then broke open the game with five unanswered goals late in the frame.

Maxime Boudreau started the offense at 13:30 as he took a long lead pass and broke in alone and beat X netminder Lucas Pfeil. This was the first of three goals scored within 2:13.

Remy Anglehart made it 3-2 on a tic-tac-toe passing play with Nathael Roy, then Charles Edouard Drouin scored after finding Pfeil out of position after a wonky dump-in play.

Jonathan Desrosiers netted the fifth Aigles Blues goal of the game at 17:30 as his shot from the point through traffic found the back of the X net. Michael Cyr rounded out the second period goals, netting a rebound with 30 seconds left in the frame while playing four-on-four hockey.

The home team took the commanding 6-2 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes.

Unfortunately for the X-Men, the Aigles Bleus continued their scoring ways early in the third period as Olivier-Luc Haché scored just 1:26 in.

Cyr scored his second of the night less than three minutes later while shorthanded to put the Aigles Bleus up 8-2. Patrick Leaver took over in the X net following the Cyr goal.

The X-Men got a goal back as they replied on the same power play, with Connor Roberts scoring off a rebound to make it 8-3.

Moncton rounded out the scoring in the game with 3:03 left to play when Horth scored his second goal of the night after continued pressure in the STFX end.

Final shots favoured the Aigles Bleus at 33-26.

Both teams are back in action Saturday night. Moncton will host Dalhousie, while the X-Men travel to Fredericton to take on UNB. Puck drop if 7:00 pm for both games.

-30-

Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics