Three goals in 1:14 sink Tigers
Arfa Ayub, Staff Contributor
The St. FX X-men needed a span of just under three minutes to take control of the game last Wednesday night, defeating the Dalhousie Tigers 5 – 2. The Tigers produced another lack-lustre effort to start the game.
“We didn’t show up like we were supposed to. We made lots of mistakes and I think we lost the game in the first period. We just were not ready,” said Dal forward Jordan Villeneuve-Gagné.
St. FX’s Bryce Swan opened the scoring 11:35 into the first period. 1:15 later Scott Brannon made it 2 – 0 for the X-men, scoring on a two-on-none. Just 14 seconds later, the X-men struck again with the Tigers defence nowhere to be found. Murdock MacLellan carried the puck through the neutral zone and behind the net, eventually scoring a wrap-around goal. The Tigers looked confused for the rest of the first period, playing out of position and trying to catch up with the big and speedy X-Men players.
“I think they lost six games in a row or something, so we expected them to come out hard and that`s what they did. They worked harder than us,” said Gagné.
Following the third goal, Pete Bellieveau replaced Disher with Bobby Nadeau. Despite the change, Belliveau defended Disher’s play:
“It wasn’t his fault. He played well,” said the Dal coach.
Dal started the second period showing signs of life and generating chances. They were unable to finish them.
“We couldn’t buy a goal,” said Belliveau.
A problem with the St. FX bench door caused a hefty 10 minute delay in the game, just as the Tigers were gaining momentum, but Gagné said the delay did not affect the team.
“It happened in the beginning of the period. They had a power play after, actually it could have been good for us,” he said.
Phillip Mangan scored the X-Men’s fourth, taking complete control of the game, with about six minutes left to play in the second. The X-Men were not finished just yet: Swan would score his second goal to increase the lead to 5 – 0, leaving the Tigers bench extremely frustrated. After the fifth goal, a loud “Fuck!” could be heard very clearly through out the arena, coming from the Dalhousie bench.
Brad McConnell, a rookie forward and Dal’s leading scorer with six goals and ten points, got one back for the Tigers, ending Joseph Perricone’s shut-out bid.
“We expected that kind of game. They lost their last six games in a row and they played like they didn’t want to lose another one,” said Belliveau.
Slow starts have been a problem for the Tigers all season long.
“We are not ready sometimes. A lot of the time we don’t show up in the first period, we lose the games there,” said Gagné. “We just have to prepare differently and get ready for our next game.”
Forward Shea Kewin scored late in the third to make the final score 5 – 2.
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