Jesse MacIntyre tries to poke puck past Parks

WOLFVILLE, NS - The Acadia Axemen closed out their weekend home stand winless as they fell 6-1 to the UPEI Panthers. With a four game losing streak that began last weekend with a 7-1 loss to UNB in Fredericton, the Axemen now drop to fifth place in the AUS standings with a 15-9-1 record.

The Panthers struck first in the first period off of a face-off in the Axemen end when Chris Daousa took the puck off of a Jared Gomes won face-off and slid the puck past Acadia netminder Evan Mosher.

UPEI opened the second period with a one goal lead and capitalized on a errant pass by the Axemen that created a break-away situation where Mike MacIsaac scored his sixth goal of the season to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

Just over three minutes later, the Panthers scored their third goal of the night at the midway point of the second frame coming from veteran forward Matt Carter after being set up in the slot by teammate Mike MacIsaac at the side of the net.

With momentum building in their favour, the Panthers pushed for a fourth goal 48 seconds later, as Jared Gomes scored his twentieth of the season off of a Chris Daousa rebound. First year Axemen goalie Evan Mosher was relieved of his duties after the Gomes goal.

The rocks kept tumbling as UPEI’s Carter would score his second goal of the night on the power play near the end of the second frame that saw the Panthers take a commanding 5-0 lead after two periods. The second frame closed out with at 16-5 shots on goal in favour of UPEI.

The third period saw Axemen sophomore Michael Ward score his seventh goal and Acadia's only goal of the game at 6:44 into final frame. Ward made a great second effort after his initial shot was stopped to fire the his own rebound into the top corner, which broke Panther Mavric Parks' shutout. 

Panther Jordan Knox would score the last of six UPEI goals on the powerplay with just under nine minutes remaining in the game. Outshot 35-31, the Axemen were 0-7 on the powerplay, while the Panthers were 2-6 on the man advantage.

With only two more regular season games remaining for Acadia, the Axemen will hope to snap their losing streak next Friday as they host the Dalhousie Tigers at 7:00 pm. With all of the AUS playoff spots spoken for, the post-season picture will look clearer after next weekend’s string of games.

The Axemen clinched their playoff berth last month and are currently sitting in the fifth place in the AUS. Acadia could move upwards, depending on their final two games of the regular season that include a home against Dalhousie and next Saturday's road game in Halifax against the second place Saint Mary's Huskies.

Acadia has been eliminated from the first or second place bye position with tonight's loss.

Submitted by Graeme Heaven
Acadia Sports Information Office