Dalhousie Tigers’ men’s hockey team beat the CIS ranked sixth best team in the country, the StFX X-men 3-2 in overtime on Friday, Feb. 12 in Antigonish, N.S. This was the Tigers’ last game of the season.
Gadoury opened the scoring for the Tigers one minute into the game. As the Tigers were entering into the X-men zone Gadoury passed the puck to Tigers leading scorer Fabian Walsh on the left wing, Walsh quickly passed the puck back to Gadoury in the high slot and Gadoury fired the puck past X-Men goaltender Drew Owsley. Andrew Rieder got the assist.
Almost two minutes later the Gadoury, Walsh and Rieder line struck again. On the power-play Walsh passed the puck to Gadoury at the point and Gadoury one-timed the puck past Owsley to give the Tigers a two goal lead. Rieder got the second assist.
Neither team was able to score in the second period. The X-men outshot the Tigers 26-8 in the second period but fifth year goaltender Wendel Vye shut down the X-men.
The X-men kept on coming in the third period and halfway through the period they were finally able to put the puck past Vye. X-men forward Nathan Pancel shot the puck from the left half wall and Vye made the save. X-men captain Nathan Chiarlitti got the rebound and shot it past Vye. Michael Clarke got the other assist.
With two minutes and 40 seconds left, the X-men tied the game. Pancel skated behind the Tigers’ net out the right of Vye. He shot the puck but Vye made the save. X-men forward Jagger Dirk got the rebound and put it into the net to send the game to overtime. Michael Clarke got the other assist.
Gadoury completed the hat trick 2:45 into overtime. The X-men iced the puck on the power play but Vye skated to the puck and passed it to Gadoury in the neutral zone. Gadoury skated around Steven Kuhn and then deked Trey Lewis and shot the puck over Owsley’s shoulder and into the net.
First year forward Phil Gadoury’s forth hat trick of the season gives him 17 goals in 25 games and makes him the AUS goal-scoring champion. He should be a candidate for AUS rookie of the year.
The X-men outshot the Tigers 66-28 in the game. Owsley made 25 saves for the X-men. This was Tigers goaltender Wendell Vye’s last game as a Dalhousie Tiger and he is leaving with a bang making 64 saves for the victory.
Even with the loss, the X-men managed to get the one point they needed to secure second place and get a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The win finalizes the Tigers’ record to 9 wins, 15 losses, and four overtime losses (9-15-4) on the season while the X-men finish with a record of (18-6-4). The Tigers had a good second half having a record of (5-6-2) and only missing the playoffs by three points. With 68 per cent of their team being in either in their first or second year, the league the Tigers should be able to grow from this season and be in the playoff hunt again next season.
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