The St. Thomas Tommies earned two out of four points over the weekend in men’s hockey action.
The Tommies got their first win of the season, beating the Dalhousie Tigers 4-0 on Friday. Saturday they lost 9-5 to the Acadia Axemen.
Tommies coach Patrick Powers said it was mentally tough for the Tommies to go winless until Friday against Dalhousie.
“We knew we were better going into Friday’s game at 0-9-3,” he said. “We’ve let some games slip through our fingers. That was on our minds when we were up 4-0.”
In Friday’s contest, a pair of quick first-period goals helped the Tommies to victory over the Tigers.
“We played good hockey and put ourselves in a position to get our first victory,” Powers said.
Eric Diodati got the ball rolling early on for the Tommies, and Colin Martin put STU up 2-0 seconds later. STU’s Jean-Christophe Laflamme beat Dalhousie goalie Corbin Boes with a shot from the slot almost 12 minutes in.
In the second period, Steven Janes roofed the puck over Boes’ shoulder to seal the Tigers’ fate.
Period three was scoreless and neither team converted on the man advantage.
STU goalie Tyson Teichmann blocked 27 shots for the shutout, while Boes also made 27 saves in the losing effort.
Next, the Tommies would play a high offense game against the Axemen.
“To play against these guys, we know we need to be in their faces and have the puck in their zone,” Powers said after Saturday’s game. “The best defense is a strong offense.”
Acadia started strong with three first-period goals in as many minutes scored, but STU’s Connor Sanvido got the Tommies on the board and cut Acadia’s lead to two.
The Axemen took a 5-1 lead with another two goals, but STU’s Steven Janes cut the deficit to three with almost two minutes left in the first.
In the second period, Acadia widened their lead to 8-2 before STU came within four with goals off of scores by Felix Poulin and Kody Orr.
STU ended the second period a man down after Powers was assessed a bench minor at 18:52, and Acadia’s Daniel Poliziani made the Tommies pay 20 seconds into the third.
Orr potted his second of the game almost seven minutes in but that was as close as STU would come.
Powers remains confident the Tommies can still salvage their season, and he said they wouldn’t show up to practice Monday if they couldn’t. They host UNB Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Grant-Harvey Centre.
