Halifax, NS – The STFX X-Men saw their first game action of the 2022-23 pre-season Friday night at the Dauphinee Centre as the Saint Mary's Huskies skated to a 4-1 win.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and SMU held a 2-1 edge midway through the third period until Justin MacPherson scored to give the home team a two-goal lead.
X-Men head coach Brad Peddle noted, "It was great to get back on the ice. We saw some good things tonight and of course some things we need to work on."
"Neither side has seen game action in six months, but this is the purpose of playing pre-season games, it's early on and we'll build on things each and every time we compete."
Freshman forward Logan Chisholm scored a power play marker for the X-Men to open the scoring in the game 6:47 into the first period. Ethan Crossman and Josh Nelson set up the goal.
The Huskies replied with a late first period goal from Bradley Johnson and the score remained even until 15:24 of the second when Sam King tallied the go-ahead and eventual game winner.
MacPherson scored the insurance marker for the Huskies midway through the third and Jonathan Hampton added an empty netter to seal the 4-1 win for the home squad.
Matthew Welsh faced 31 X-Men shots in the Huskies goal.
Joseph Raaymakers (12 saves) and Lucas Pfeil (16 saves) split the goaltending duties for the X-Men who were narrowly outshot in the game 32-31.
The X-Men were without the services of 2022 U SPORTS rookie of the year Liam Hawel who is attending the Columbus Blue Jackets rookie camp.
STFX will be back in exhibition action next Friday, September 23rd when they go back to Halifax, this time to face-off against the Dalhousie Tigers. Game time is 7:00 pm.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information