AUS Sunday; X-Women Look for Perfection on Senior’s Day at the DMA

(Photo Credit: Nick Pearce)

Saint Francis Xavier (23-0) at Dalhousie (10-13)

This should be a Senior’s Sunday doozy from the DMA. There are playoff implications on the line for the Tigers as they are battling for the third seed at AUS championships. It won’t make a huge difference for who they match up with in the quarter finals but it would put them in line to play Moncton in the Semis as opposed to these juggernaut X-Women on their home ice in Antigonish.

St FX will walk in to Dalhousie undefeated on the season and looking for one for win to achieve regular season perfection. Yesterday the dynamic duo of Janelle Parent (43 points) and Alex Normore (41 points) combined for three goals to lead the X-Women to a dominating 3-0 victory over the Saint Mary’s Huskies on Senior’s day at Alumni Arena.

Dalhousie will be honouring 5th year senior and team captain, Laura Shearer, along with the high scoring Jocelyn Leblanc, and solid veterans Robyn Nicholson, Robin Mullen, and Alyssa Hennigar. These seniors have been the core of the Tigers team for several years and they’ll be hyped for a huge upset of the X-Women to make their last game at the DMA a memorable one.

Game time is 2:00 and will be webcast on ssncanada with Bill McLean and Steve Betts.

Mount Allison (9-13) at St.Thomas (10-13)

Two teams that have clinched playoff spots but are battling for positioning. Each can finish anywhere from third to sixth in the standings, and like the Tigers they’ll both be pressing to get the third spot to avoid St FX until the Championship game. The Mounties have alot of size while STU answers with alot of team speed. The Mounties have lost 6 of their last 7 games while the Tommies are 3-2 in their last five.

Men’s Hockey: Semi Finals

#3 Saint Francis Xavier at #2 Saint Mary’s (X leads 1-0 in Best of Five)

The X-Men drew first blood on Thursday night in Antigonish behind three point performances from Chris Hulit and Jason Bast. The X-Men’s 5-3 victory would not have been possible without the stellar play of Joey Perricone who turned away 22 pucks by the Huskies who out shot the X-Men 25-17. This combination of Hulit and Perricone is turning into a winning formula for St FX and has the team two wins away from going to nationals.
The defending CIS champion Huskies will be desperate for a win tonight at the Forum to get back on equal footing. Dating back to last season, St FX has now won 4 straight semi final games versus defending CIS champs. Last year they swept UNB in three games one year after the Reds won the national title.
If the Huskies are to break through with a win they’ll need to capitalize more on the power play (X had 22 PIM on Thursday compared to 6 for SMU) and get better goaltending from Neil Conway.
Game time from the Forum is 7:00.

Women’s Basketball

Memorial (11-8, 30 points) at Acadia (11-8, 30 points)
Come Friday night in St.John’s these two teams will be tired of seeing each other. Today’s game is a battle for 4th place but meaningless for playoff positioning as the teams will play each other in the quarter finals next weekend. Yesterday the Axewomen got 24 points from Stephanie Chapman to beat the Seahawks 83-68. But…”beware of the Seahawks on Sunday!” Memorial is 7-2 this season on Sunday, with several of those wins coming after being blown out the night before.

Men’s Basketball

Memorial (3-19, 8 pts) at Acadia (6-13, 18 pts)
Coming in to this weekend set versus the Seahawks, Steve Bauer and the Axemen knew it was a simple scenario; win both games and plan your trip to Halifax for AUS championships, or lose one game and stay home in Wolfville. Acadia took care of business last night with a decisive 86-65 victory behind 27 points from Alex McLaughlin, and a double/double (25 pts, 13 rebs) from Owen Klassen. If Acadia wins today they’ll be the fourth seed next weekend at the Metro Centre and play the UNB Varsity Reds in the quarter finals on Friday night. If they lose, the UPEI Panthers will qualify as the sixth seed. Needless to say, there are alot of Memorial Seahawks fans today in Charlottetown.