The Dalhousie Tigers men’s hockey team won their home opener 4-3 in a shootout against the Acadia Axemen on Oct. 21 at the Halifax Forum.
“We played within ourselves,” said the Tigers’ leading scorer, Fabian Walsh. “We played our system. We kept it simple out there and we played the way we knew we could play. That’s a good team over there and we battled them hard and we came out with the two points”.
The Tigers got an early lead two minutes into the hockey game from a goal by Tanner Williams. Tigers forward Felix Page drove wide and shot the puck at Acadia goalie Robert Steeves. It rebounded out to Williams in front and he shot it in the net.
Eight minutes later Axemen forward Zachery Franko scored to tie the game. Kyle Farrel got the assist.
Two and a half minutes later the Tigers regained their lead. Daniel Walsh tried to pass it in front to his brother Fabian Walsh. An Axemen defender laid out in front of the net to stop the pass. Fabian Walsh managed to regain the puck and went to his backhand and shot it into the net to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Daniel Walsh and J.P Harvey got the assists.
“It was kind of a scramble play,” said Fabian Walsh. “I picked up the puck in front and slid it under the goalie’s pad.”
The second period did not go very well for the Tigers. The Axemen outshot them 28 to nine in the period. Tigers goaltender Corbin Boes was spectacular making a couple of fantastic saves in the period.
Unfortunately for Dalhousie, they could not get out of the period scot-free. With four minutes left in the period, Acadia defenseman Matthew Pufahl scored off a nice wrist shot from the point to tie the game at 2-2.
A few minutes later, Acadia thought they had scored again. Franko shot the puck and it went off Boes and up into the air. Franko knocked the puck out of the air on to the ice and he shot it into the net. The referees, however, called off the goal because Franko knocked the puck down with a high stick. Acadia was upset with the call. However, the game stayed at 2-2.
In the third period, the Tigers settled back down. Eight and a half minutes into the period, Fabian Walsh stole the puck at the half boards and skated into the high slot and fired the puck into the net to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
“That one was a turnover. I just got the puck in the high slot and I shot it, and I put it right where I wanted it and it went into the net,” said Walsh.
Late in the third period, Acadia pulled their goalie to give the Axemen an extra attacker. With under a minute left, Corbin Boes made an unbelievable glove save to keep the Tigers in the lead. However, Acadia regained the puck and with four seconds left in the period, Zachery Franko jammed the puck in to send the game to overtime.
The Tigers played well in overtime, outshooting the Axemen eight to six, but neither team was able to score. Therefore, the game had to be decided in a shootout.
In the shootout, first-year Tigers forward Phil Gadoury made a nice deke to score. Corbin Boes managed to stop all three shooters he faced and the Tigers won the game by a score of 4-3.
Dalhousie goaltender Boes was spectacular in this game. He stopped 47 out of the 50 shots he faced. Acadia goaltender Robert Steeves stopped 22 out of 25 shots he faced.
Dalhousie forward Jackson Playfair had nothing but high praise for his goaltender.
“Boesy (Boes) is exceptional,” said Playfair. “He is one of those guys who know is going to keep you in any game and if you have him in the net you have a chance to win, so that is something our team tries to build off of. It’s nice to know you got a guy who can take those thirty or forty shots and he is only going to let in one or two or none.”
This was the Tigers’ first win of the season. Playfair believes the team has been playing well up to this point, however, everything clicked for the team tonight.
“I think we have been close in a lot of games,” said Playfair. “We haven’t been getting blown out of the water. We are keeping games tight and playing a well-structured game.
Tonight was one of those nights we did everything right. We kept pucks in, we didn’t over think our game and it ended up working out for us”.
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