Tommies' valiant comeback falls short against Axemen.

There's no quit in these Tommies.  The new STU attitude was on display tonight at the LBR as the Tommies battled back from a 3-goal deficit in the third period, but ultimately fell short, 7-5 to Acadia.

St. Thomas captured the early momentum at 2:15 of the opening period when Alexandre Labonte (Felix-Antoine Poulin) beat Axemen goaltender Peter DiSalvo for a power play goal, his first of the season, to give STU a 1-0 lead.  But the flow shifted back Acadia's way as they capitalized on a pair of power play opportunities of their own, with goals from Spencer Jezegou and Michael Ward.  Acadia outshot St. Thomas 11-9 in the first.

The Axemen jumped out quickly in the middle stanza on Joe Gaynor's first of three to make it 3-1.  STU responded quickly, drawing to within a goal on Brad Gallant's (Randy Cameron, Jordan Scott) marker at 2:34.  Andrew Clark restored Acadia's 2-goal advantage on a shot at which Charles Lavigne would wish to have another crack.  Clark expanded the lead to 5-2 at 9:01 on the powerplay, and the Tommies appeared to be down and out, trailing by 3 after 40 minutes, outshot 13-8 in the second period.

But the 2011-12 STU Tommies are demonstrating a resolute tenacity early on this season.  After some good work by Robert Zandbeek, Randy Cameron chipped a puck over to Chris Van Laren for his first goal as a Tommie at 5:21 of the third period to make it 5-3, setting the stage for the Steve Sanza show.  On an Acadia powerplay, Sanza took advantage of a turnover, using Matt Eagles - who would earn an assist on the goal - as a decoy on a 2-on-1, beating DiSalvo with a short-side wrist shot to pull St. Thomas within a goal at 6:39.  Sanza (Labonte) then potted his second of the night at 8:41, and the 493 in attendance came alive with the prospect of an exciting finish with the game tied at 5.  However, Gaynor scored at 12:47 to re-establish the Acadia lead at 6-5, and with Lavigne on the bench for an extra attacker, Gaynor outraced Poulin for the puck and finished off both the hat trick and the Tommies' hopes for their first victory of the season, sealing the 7-5 win.  Final shots on goal favoured Acadia 29-24.

The Tommies' men are on the road next weekend, with tilts versus Saint Mary's and St. F-X.