Tommies cut down by Axemen

The St. Thomas Tommies, recovering from a flu bug that affected 11 players and forced the postponement of last night's scheduled game against Saint Mary's, dropped a 6-3 decision to the Acadia Axemen tonight at the LBR.

The Axemen opened the scoring at 1:20 of the first period on a big rebound that Zack McMillan batted out of midair and into the open net. STU responded at 8:37 when Kenton Dulle accepted a pass from Mike Reich and powered his way to the front of the net and found a space between the pads of Acadia goaltender Kristofer Westblom. Then at 10:18 Tyler Dietrich carried the puck from the Tommies' blueline and found the five-hole on a shot from the left wing to give STU a 2-1 lead. However, Acadia would tie the game on Scott Tregunna's wraparound goal at 13:38.

The teams played even for most of the second period, until Tyler Whitehead received the puck off a rebound off the "Great Wall" and backhanded it over a sprawling Charles Lavigne to give Acadia a 3-2 lead with the 4-on-4 marker. The Tommies ended the period by taking two penalties at 19:50. Mike Reich was called for roughing and STU received a bench minor for too many men on the ice.

After an amazing early save by Charles Lavigne, Acadia capitalized on the two man advantage as David Lomas scored off a big rebound to give the Axemen a two goal advantage. Acadia trapped their way through the remainder of the third period, until Matt Eagles found the back of the net at 18:24 on the powerplay and with Lavigne out of the net for an extra attacker. But as the Tommies pressed for the equalizer with Lavigne still on the bench, Acadia scored a pair of empty net goals to seal the victory.

Final shots on goal favoured Acadia 26-21. Kenton Dulle was the lone Tommie to notch multiple points, with a goal and an assist, and was named the Tommies Player of the Game.

St. Thomas will host Saint Mary's on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm at the LBR, rescheduled from Friday night. Listen Live on 95.7 The Wolf, online at www.957thewolf.ca