Antigonish, NS – The Moncton Aigles Bleus skated into the STFX Keating Centre Friday night and tricked the STFX X-Men as they were treated to a 7-3 victory on Halloween weekend at the university.
Nathael Roy (Levis, QC) and Mika Cyr (Sainte-Anne, NB) each scored two goals apiece for the visiting Aigles Bleus who improved to 5-2-0 on the season.
The X-Men drop to 2-4-0 and find themselves in a four-game losing skid.
Cyr tallied midway through the first period on the powerplay and Edouard St-Laurent (Levis, QC) scored on a wrap around just over 18 minutes in as the Aigles Bleus went up 2-0.
The X-Men quickly responded 39 seconds later as Matthew Struthers (Milton, ON) scored while on the man advantage and the X-Men trailed by a goal, 2-1 after 20 minutes of play.
The teams then exploded for five second period goals as the Aigles Bleus took a 5-3 lead after two periods.
Cyr scored his second of the game two minutes into the frame and Alexandre Couture picked up a loose puck in front of the X net 1:20 later and deposited the puck over the shoulder of X netminder Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) to give his team a 4-1 edge.
The X-Men then made a goaltender change as Lucas Pfeil (Owen Sound, ON) came in to try and provide a spark for his teammates.
The X-Men responded with goals off the sticks of Liam Hawel (Arnprior) and Matthew Philip (Ilderton, ON) on the power play as they closed the gap to 4-3 just over six minutes in.
But Aigles Bleus forward Maxime Boudreau (Cap-Pele, NB) rounded out the scoring in the middle period for Moncton midway through and they did not relinquish their lead.
Roy scored both his goals in the third period, the first unassisted 11 minutes in and the second on the power play from Jacob Dion (Sherbrooke, QC), as the Aigles Blues earned the decisive 7-3 win.
Shots favored Moncton at 31-26 as Etienne Montpetit earned his fifth win of the season, handling 23 saves in the Aigles Bleus net.
Raaymakers (9) and Pfeil (15) combined for 23 saves for the X-Men.
Roy took home first star and Subway player of game honours with two goals and assist on the night. X-Men forward Struthers was the second star with a goal and two assists, and Moncton's Cyr was third star for his two-goal effort.
Both teams are back in action tomorrow night. The Aigles Bleus will be Halifax to take on the Dalhousie Tigers while the X-Men will host the UNB Reds. Puck drop for both games is 7:00 pm.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics
STFX supporter and sports fan Wendy Digout - a breast cancer survivor - drops the puck on 'Pink in the Rink' night for breast cancer awareness as STFX's Declan Smith and Moncton's Vincent Deslauriers take the draw.