Late 3rd period goal from Mercer lifts X-Men over Axemen

ANTIGONISH, NS - The STFX X-Men made it a four-point weekend with a hard fought 2-1 victory over the visiting Acadia Axemen on Saturday night at the Charles V Keating Centre. Gabriel Pizza Player of the Game STFX goalie Lucas Pfeil (Owen Sound, ON) made 33 in the win, while Ben Mercer (Halifax, NS) notched the game winner late in the third period.  

With Acadia defeating STFX 8-3 the last time the Axemen were in town, the X-Men came out of the gate with a point to prove. They fired plenty of shots at Acadia netminder Thomas Couture (Levis, QC) early on, but weren't able to light the lamp.  

It was the Axemen who opened the scoring nine minutes into the game, as Marc Boudreau (Toronto, ON) snagged a long stretch pass from Connor Shorthall (St. John's, NL) along the boards and fed Brendan Mairs (London, ON) in the high slot for the goal. Shots at the end of 20 minutes were 16-11 for the home team.  

The X-Men came out firing in the second period, generating more shots on goal in the first 10 minutes. They found their tying goal with under five minutes to go in the stanza, as Conner Roberts (Owen Sound, ON) hit a streaking Ethan Burroughs (Georgetown, ON) with a breakaway pass, and Burroughs stuffed it home on his second chance shot. Shots at the end of 40 minutes were 32-18 for STFX.  

The Axemen went on the powerplay six minutes into the third period, but the X-Men penalty kill and strong play from Pfeil kept it 1-1. Mercer's game winner came with 3:30 left to play, after third star Charlie Callaghan (Toronto, ON) put a pass on his stick from behind the Acadia net, and Mercer sent it to the back of the net. Ryan Struthers (Milton, ON) had the second assist. The goal marked the first AUS career goal for Mercer. 

Couture made 47 saves for the visitors, picking up second star of the game honors along the way.  

The X-Men return to action mid-week, when they will head to Halifax for a visit with the Dalhousie Tigers on Wednesday, November 6, at 7 p.m. The Axemen return to home ice for their next game, a matchup on Friday, November 8 with the Moncton Aigles Bleus at 7 p.m.  

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Recap courtesy Matt Draper, STFX Athletics