Thanks to that big storm in Halifax a while back, Acadia was at Dalhousie for a re-scheduled game on Wednesday for the final match of the half for Atlantic University Hockey Conference.
The Tigers snapped a four game winless streak as Derrell Jerrett scored just over a minute in and Dominic Noel finally got going with two goals in the second period and an empty netter late in the third as Dalhousie picked up the much needed 4-1 win.
Now that we are at the midpoint of the season I went back to see my predictions from the beginning of the season and this is what I wrote: "So far I see StFX and UNB in the first two spots, followed by UPEI, SMU, UdeM and Acadia in some order from third through sixth, with Dal and STU in seventh and eighth and out of the playoffs." As you can see, I copped out and had UPEI, SMU, UdeM and Acadia more or less in a four-way tie for third place. So how did I do? Let's look at the AUHC standings at the break after each team has played 14 games:
1. Saint Mary's Huskies 9-4-1-0 for 19 points
2. Moncton Aigles Bleus 7-4-3-0 for 17 points
3. UPEI Panthers 6-5-3-0 for 15 points
4T. UNB Varsity Reds 7-7-0-0 for 14 points
4T. StFX X-Men 5-5-3-1 for 14 points
6T. St. Thomas Tommies 5-7-2-0 for 12 points
6T. Acadia Axemen 4-6-4-0 for 12 points
8. Dalhousie Tigers 4-8-2-0 for 10 points
Well I certainly didn't anticipate UNB and StFX struggling to find their form in the first half so I obviously didn't get that right, but I may yet be proven correct by the end of the season. I had Dalhousie at seventh and out of the playoffs, and right now they're eighth and out. STU is just ahead of them by two points, so my hunch on who was underpowered this season is fairly accurate so far. You could say that red-hot SMU and UdeM have exceeded early expectations by sitting in the coveted first round bye positions of first and second, but Moncton is still only 3 points ahead of UNB and StFX. If UPEI's Paul Drew hadn't stolen their last game of the half against the V-Reds, then UNB would be in third place and the Panthers would be in fifth. With standings this tight I think it is still too close to call to rank the top five or six teams before we actually finish the season. Parity is still king in the Maritimes.
I'm going to dare to give a brief capsule of my impressions of each of the teams at the half and rate some of the players. Remember, this is just my opinion and I am not a professional scout on 'Making the Cut'.
Saint Mary's Huskies: First place team is flying high and so far they've avoided the injury bug. Big three of Ryan Lauzon, Kurt MacSweyn and Brad Self carrying the offensive load with 21, 20 and 18 points respectively, while Cory Roberts and David Chant are doing the job in nets.
- Most Impressive Rookie: Ryan Lauzon with team leading 21 points and conference leading +15.
- Most Valuable Player: Cory Roberts leads Atlantic with 8 wins and 2.16 GAA.
- What happened to ...? No one. Everyone is playing well which is why I believe they're in first place.
Moncton Aigles Bleus: Aggressive fore-checking and they don't stop skating. After starting serious rebuilding last season this still young team is finally starting to gel and getting timely goaltending from Jonathan Pelletier who looks more like his old winning self.
- Most Impressive Rookie: Karl Fournier with team leading 17 points.
- Most Valuable Player: According to his coach it is veteran goalie Jonathan Pelletier with all 7 of his team's wins. I'd have to agree.
- What happened to ...? Pierre Luc Laprise, Gilbert LeFrancois and Daniel Hudgin. They were 1-2-3 in scoring last season with 29, 25 and 22 points respectively and at the half this year they have 11, 8 and 6 points. Hudgin did finish the half with a three-game suspension.
UPEI Panthers: Ne