Dominant performance by Axemen over St. Thomas

FREDERICTON, N.B. - The CIS No. 5 ranked Acadia Axemen take over first place in the AUS standings after a weekend of upsets. UNB and StFX trail Acadia by one point after UNB's loss Friday night to StFX on Friday night and StFX's loss to UPEI last night.

The Axemen handed the 1-11- St. Thomas Tommies a 12-2 loss in Fredercton. The win is the Axemen's fourth straight win.

The Axemen netted four goals in the first period, five in the second and three in the closing frame.

Brett Thompson scored 50 seconds into the opening frame and less than a minute Zach Franko scored his fifth goal of the regular season.

Fourth year forward Mike Cazzola gave the Axemen a 3-0 lead after seven minutes of play on a wrist a shot to the top corner. Just over two minutes later, Travis Randell scored a shorthanded goal, his second of the season, to give Acadia a commanding 4-0 lead in the opening period.

The Tommies scored their first of two gaols in the second period when Rankyn Campbell banked a shot off of Axemen netminder Robert Steeves to cut the lead to 4-1.

The Axemen dropped five goals in a row to diminish any hope for the Tommies. Michael Clarke, Daniel Pettersson, Mike Cazzola, & Brett Thompson nailed the coffin shut with goals at 3:58, 4;16, 9:55 14:52 and 15:54 respectively.

Tommie Eric Diodati scored St. Thomas' second and last goal with 44 seconds remaining in the second period.

Leading 9-2 after two periods, the Axemen add three more goals including Dylan Anderson's 4th on the year, Boston Leier's team leading eighth goal of the season. Franko added his second goal of the night on a breakaway.

Thompson and Cazzola picked up two goals in addition to Franko's two and all three were named the Subway Three Stars for the 12-2 win.

The Axemen return home for a mid-week game against rival Saint Mary's on Wednesday followed by Friday Night's kick off of Wolfville's host of Rogers Hometown Hockey weekend as they host the UPEI Panthers.

Provided in part by axemenhockey.com