The Dalhousie Tigers men’s hockey team beat the seventh ranked team in the country, the StFX X-men 4-1 on a snowy Friday afternoon on Jan. 29 at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
“The guys played really hard, they’re a little bit banged up, we had a few guys out of the lineup but everyone stepped up and did a good job,” Tigers Assistant Coach Todd Parker said. “We’re proud.”
The game took place at the Scotiabank Centre because the arena was hosting an event titled AUS Varsity Showdown. St.FX, Dalhousie, Saint Mary’s and Acadia’s men’s hockey, basketball and women’s basketball teams all play a game at the arena over the weekend. The hockey took place on Friday while the basketball took place on Saturday.
StFX opened the scoring 11:34 into the first period. On the powerplay X-men forward Kristoff Kontos passed the puck to teammate Holden Cook in the high slot. Cook fired it over Tigers’ goaltender Corbin Boes’s blocker and into the net.
The Tigers tied the game 8:35 into the second period. Tigers forward Tanner Williams fired a backhand shot toward X-men goaltender Brandon Hope. Hope stopped the puck but Tiger Jackson Playfair was on the rebound and whacked at the puck. The puck came out to Tiger JP Harvey at the right side of the net and he shot the puck into the net.
The Tigers got the lead 2:39 into the third period. Tigers forward Mike Evelyn got the puck on the right side of the X-men net. He skated toward the slot and shot the puck past Hope. Tanner Williams got the assist.
The Tigers stretched their lead to 3-1 with seven minutes left in the game. Tigers forward Steven Johnston fired a shot from the blue line that hit off teammate Alex Cote’s stick in and went over to Tigers assistant captain Andrew Wigginton at the right side of the net. Wigginton shot the puck into the open net.
With 10 seconds left in the game Playfair scored an empty net goal to send the Tigers to a 4-1 win. Tanner Williams assisted on the goal giving him three assists in the game.
X-men goaltender Brandon Hope made 19 saves on 22 shots while Tigers goaltender Corbin Boes made 32 saves on 33 shots.
The team dealt with a few injuries in the game. Daniel Walsh, Wes Herrett, Felix Page and Andrew Rieder were all out due to injuries.
“We have had seven games in the past two weeks, that is a lot of hockey so some guys are banged up,” Parker said.
The win moves the Tigers within four points of L’Universite de Moncton for the final playoff spot. Forward Alex Cote believes if the team keeps playing the way they have been, the playoffs could be a possibility.
“We need to keep playing the way we’re playing. We have played teams like UNB and Acadia tough since the break,” Cote said. “I think if we play the way we’re playing we will move into the right direction and hopefully make the playoffs.”
The win improves the Tigers’ record to seven wins, 13 losses and four overtime losses (7-13-4). The loss drops StFX’s record to (15-6-3). The Tigers next game is Friday, Feb. 5 against St. Thomas at the Halifax Forum at 7 p.m.
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