The stormy weather in the Maritimes right now might be matching the temperament of several AUHC coaches after this week as only the St. F.X. X-Men managed to get through the seven days without a loss.
Back on Wednesday there were three games. The Universit de Moncton Aigles Bleus hadn't lost a conference game since their 8-3 loss to the St. Thomas Tommies in Fredericton back on November 19th. Well the small ice at the LBR wasn't any kinder to them this time, as STU blew an early lead, but then managed to tie it up in the third period and go to an overtime victory courtesy of Chris Cook's second goal of the game for the 3-2 win. The Tommies outshot the depleted Moncton roster 41-27 in the match.
Meanwhile at the same time in the Battle of Halifax, the St. Mary's Huskies scored first and last to beat the Dalhousie Tigers 3-2 at the Halifax Forum. SMU outshot Dal 35-21 on the night. In Antigonish, the Acadia Axemen and the X-Men traded goals and had to settle for a 2-2 tie. Both of Acadia's goals came on the power play and the shots were an equally close 40-39.
Friday night all of the teams were in action. The UNB Varsity Reds were at home and trying to get back to winning ways. Acadia's Kevin Baker scored first, but then UNB managed four unanswered goals to get the big win. Acadia outshot UNB 29-25 but scoring chances favoured the V-Reds. It was UNB's first win in the last four outings.
In Halifax, the Dal Tigers finally got a break, and revenge, as Ross McCain's two goals lead them to a 3-2 win over the visiting Tommies. The week before the Tigers had blown a three-goal lead in the third period as STU rallied for the humbling 7-4 win.
Friday on the Island, SMU suffered a rare loss at the hands of the UPEI Panthers as they were doubled 6-3. UPEI was 3 for 9 on the power play and had the lead all game. At the same time, the X-Men were getting a little revenge of their own against les Aigles Bleus, to whom they lost 3-0 the week before. Moncton scored first, but that was all they got by X goalie Mike Mole as StFX rallied for the 3-1 win on the strength of Ryan Armstrong's two goals. UdeM outshot the X-Men 35-24. Saturday night events didn't go any better for the Aigles Bleus shooters who are suddenly struggling around the net. Again Moncton scored first, but Dal rallied with three straight goals and held on for the 3-2 win. Again Moncton outshot their opponent by a healthy margin, this time 40-28.
The Tommies were in Antigonish on Saturday and discovered they really need to work on their special team play. The X-Men scored on each of their first three power plays in the first two periods, and scored another power play marker early in the third period. STU changed the goalies up after that, Monlar out and Sim in, but to add insult to injury X's Ryan Armstrong scored a short handed goal less than four minutes later. STU went 0 for 7 power play opportunities whereas X was 4 for their 7 chances. Shots actually favoured STU 30-28 in the game. Mike Mole earned his second shutout of the season; curiously enough his other shutout came against the Tommies back in November 13th.
In Fredericton, UNB's new positive play disappeared on Saturday against St. Mary's. For the fourth time this season, it was the Huskies getting the win, this time 4-2. Discipline continues to be a problem for the V-Reds this season, as they are uncharacteristically the second most penalized team in the conference and gave up two power play goals in this game.
In the last game of the weekend, Acadia surprised everyone with an 8-2 thumping of the Panthers in Charlottetown. Acadia scored three in the first, and three in the second before UPEI finally got on the scoreboard midway through the game. UPEI outshot the Axemen in the last two periods, and 32-29 in total, so it obviously wasn't Panther goalie Paul Drew's best night.
The AUHC standings have tightened up and shuffled even more, i