Playoff dreams dashed

Dal’s Francois Gauthier with the puck Feb. 4. Photo by Martina Marien.

Dalhousie’s miraculous mid-season turnaround did not have the Cinderella finish the team was looking for.

The Tigers men’s hockey team, the same team which was trapped in an 11-game losing streak earlier in the season, lost a game they needed to win Feb. 10 to remain in contention for a playoff spot. Dal’s 4 – 2 loss against the Acadia Axemen pushed the Tigers too far back in the standings to qualify for the sixth and final playoff berth.

St. FX finally qualified for the playoffs that evening as well. The X-Men beat Saint Mary’s 5 – 4 in a shootout.

A goal by Acadia’s Joel Ridgeway with 4:06 remaining in the first period gave the Axemen a 1 – 0 lead. The league’s top goal scorer Andrew Clark increased Dal’s deficit, adding a shorthanded marker early in the second.

With their playoff lives hanging in the balance, the Tigers attempted a comeback in the third. Francois Gauthier and Brett Plouffe scored for Dal to tie the game at two, but it didn’t take long for the Axemen to respond. Joe Gaynor would score just 32 seconds later, regaining the lead at 3 – 2. Alex Beaton had the insurance marker for Acadia.

The men’s hockey Tigers play their last game of the season and their final ever at Memorial Arena Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. against St. FX.