The big story in the Atlantic University Hockey Conference this week is the resurgence of the Acadia Axemen, who have won six of their last seven games, and only need one win in their next two games to clinch the final playoff spot. Saturday night Acadia beat Dalhousie 3-2 in overtime in Halifax, and they will host Dal on Wednesday. A win would tie Acadia with Dal in the standings, and eliminate Moncton and St. Thomas from the playoffs.
For their part, the Universit de Moncton Aigles Bleus reversed their fortunes last week by ending their four game losing streak with an exciting overtime win at home on Wednesday against first-place UNB. Not to take anything away from Moncton, but UNB only had 16 shots in the game and the players didn't look as interested in a win as they normally do. Two nights later Moncton hosted the St. Thomas Tommies in another must-win game and the two teams skated to a wild wide-open affair that saw the Tommies come back and tie the score three times, but still ended in a 4-4 tie. With only two games left, and being three points back, Moncton needs to win their next two games and hope Acadia loses both in regulation, since the tie-breaker favours Acadia.
St. Thomas is playing a rare Monday game against UPEI tonight in Charlottetown, and then host the Panthers on Friday and Moncton on Saturday. Needless to say being four points back they have to win all three games and like Moncton hope that Acadia stumbles.
In the top of the league, UNB and St. F. X. are once again tied for first. On Friday, UNB rebounded from their loss to Moncton with a dominant 6-1 win at home to UPEI. UNB goalie Gene Chiarello made the trip to Fredericton for the weekend, the first since he began his chemotherapy treatments in Toronto. The former London Knight and Sault Ste. Marie native is battling brain cancer and inspired his teammates and humbled the crowd by taking the microphone before the game to publicly state that he knows he's won his battle when he is back on campus in Fredericton and again in the line-up with the Varsity Reds.
Like UNB, St. F. X. has clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs and their final two games will just decide their opponents in the second round of the playoffs. The big motivation for X to beat out UNB for first place in the standings would be to secure home-ice through the playoffs in case the two teams meet again for the Atlantic championship, as was the case last year.
St. Mary's is on a bit of a slide, and fell out of contention for the first-round bye. While the Huskies are only the third team to clinch a playoff spot, their final standing, and resulting home ice advantage in the playoffs, are still in doubt. It is still mathematically possible for UPEI to catch and pass them for third place.
So as I said last week, nothing has really been decided yet, and it will take until this weekend, the final weekend, before we determine who is in the playoffs and who meets whom in the first round.