StFX eliminates champs, claims last University Cup berth

HALIFAX (CIS) – New Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s hockey champions will be crowned at the end of the month in Fredericton.
 
Phil Mangan scored 50 seconds into the second overtime period to lift the St. Francis Xavier X-Men to a 3-2 win over the defending national champion Saint Mary’s Huskies in the fifth and decisive game of an Atlantic conference semifinal series, Tuesday night in Halifax.
 
The contest was played in front of a packed house of 4,685 at the Halifax Forum.
 
Trailing 2-0 after only 7:12 of play, StFX rebounded with two quick goals early in the second frame and the teams remained tied through regulation, as well as a first extra period of 10 minutes.
 
With the win, the X-Men advance to the best-of-five AUS final against the nationally top-ranked UNB Varsity Reds, starting Friday night in Fredericton.
 
Maybe more importantly, StFX grabbed the sixth and final berth into the 49th University Cup tournament to be hosted by UNB from March 24 to 27.
 
McGill, Western Ontario, Alberta and Calgary had all punched their tickets for the CIS championship over the weekend.
 
Saint Mary’s had eliminated StFX in three straight games in last year’s AUS championship series en route to claiming the first University Cup title in school history thanks to a 3-2 OT win over Alberta in the CIS final.
 
NOTE: McGill travels to London, Ont., on Saturday to face Western in the single-game OUA final... Calgary and Alberta face off in the best-of-three Canada West final in Edmonton, starting on Friday... 
 
CIS MEN’S HOCKEY SCHEDULE: March 11-13 (all times LOCAL)
 
NOTE: Complete schedule for the AUS final to be announced shortly.
 
Friday, March 11
 
19:00 StFX at UNB (Game 1 best-of-5 AUS final)
19:30 Calgary at Alberta (Game 1 best-of-3 Canada West final)
 
Saturday, March 12
 
15:30 McGill at Western (OUA final – 100th Queen’s Cup)
19:30 Calgary at Alberta (Game 2 best-of-3 Canada West final)
 
Sunday, March 13
 
19:00 Calgary at Alberta (Game 3 best-of-3 Canada West final – if necessary)
 
 
-CIS-