Game result overshadowed by serious injury

Antigonish, NS – The U SPORTS No. 4 ranked STFX X-Men defeated the No. 8 ranked Saint Mary's Huskies 7-5 Saturday night at the Charles V. Keating.

The high scoring game ended in a somber fashion as Huskies defenseman Dennis Busby (Oro-Medonte, ON) left the ice quickly with 1:06 remaining in the game with a serious cut to the hand. The accident took place as Busby and an X-Men athlete were both racing down ice for the puck in the SMU zone as the Huskies net was empty in favour of an extra attacker late in the game. Both players went down and the X skate clipped the hand/wrist area of Busby.

As both teams waited for an extended period of time on the ice for an update, both head coaches, in consultation with the game officials, made the decision to suspend the game in light of the serious incident and the final score remained 7-5 with the X-Men earning the victory.

A STFX doctor was on site and immediately tended to the injured Huskies athlete, along with both teams athletic therapy staff. Busby was taken to nearby hospital for further assessment on the injury.

Before the unexpected ending to the game, the teams engaged in a high scoring affair with seven of the 12 total goals in the game coming on the power play as minor penalties were called fast and furious in all three periods.

X-Men forward Matt Struthers (Milton, ON) ended up with four goals in the game and an assist while linemate Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) scored two goals and had two helpers.

Forward Mitchell Balmas (Sydney, NS) had a hat trick for the Huskies and he wasted no time getting his team on the board as he lifted a puck up behind the X net and in over the shoulder of Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON), scoring unassisted only 36 seconds into play.

The X-Men outshot the Huskies 20-9 in the period and were rewarded late when Matt Philip (Ilderton, ON) scored on the power play with 47 seconds left on the clock. He shoveled in a backhanded puck in front of Matt Welsh (Halifax, NS).

Philip assisted on the second X-Men goal at 6:05 of the second period. His shot on the man-advantage was saved by Welsh but Struthers was on the doorstep to bang in the rebound.

The goal was the first of what would be four power goals in the period, as each team would score two apiece.

Hawel put the X-Men up 3-1 with a power play goal on a nice tic-tac-toe play with Josh Nelson (Lockport, IL) and Philip.

The Huskies scored their own goal on the man-advantage less than two minutes later as Andrew Coxhead (Bedford, NS) tallied.

The next goal ping ponged back to the X-Men as Struthers scored his second of the night off a nice feed from Jacob Hudson (Antigonish, NS) to make it 4-2 for STFX.

The final goal of the frame came from Balmas at 17:52 when he banged in a loose puck after a goal crease scramble while on the power play.

When all was said and done the X-Men were up 4-3 after 40 minutes, having an 11-9 shot advantage in the middle period with each team tagged for four minor penalties aside.

Hawel's second goal of the night came just 30 seconds into the third period as he deposited a rebound past Welsh.

Struthers third goal gave the X-Men a 6-3 lead as he scored five-hole four minutes into the third on the man advantage after SMU took a double minor high sticking penalty.

Saint Mary's then closed the gap to 6-5 as they scored two quick goals less than a minute apart. Balmas netted his hat trick goal on the power play at 12:34 then Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) tallied 47 seconds later to pull the visitors to within one.

The X-Men regained some breathing room with Struthers final goal with 3:30 left in the game.

Saint Mary's pulled Welsh from the net with 1:20 left in the game but the incident occurred just 14 seconds later.

Struthers received the first star and Subway player of the game honour for his five-point effort. SMU's Balmas was second star and STFX's Hawel earned third star recognition.

X-Men forward Phillip also had a four-point evening with a goal and an assist.

The X-Men will be back in action on home ice Wednesday night when they host the Dalhousie Tigers. Saint Mary's will travel to Moncton Friday for their next AUS match.

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Courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics