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Liam Kidney provided the spark the Acadia Axemen needed and now the squad is off to the Atlantic University Sport hockey semifinal.

The host Axemen trailed the St. F.X. X-Men 4-2 heading to the third period Feb. 22 in Wolfville. An X-Men win would have forced a deciding Game 3 Feb. 24 in Antigonish.

Kidney fired a rebound past X-Men goalie Patrick Leaver, who stopped captain Peyton Hoyt’s initial shot, 2:33 into the final frame.

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“It’s unreal,” Kidney said after the game. “We needed to get one early in the third to be able to come back. … I think after we scored that first one, we got hope and we had so much energy on the bench we didn’t give up.”

Five minutes later, Cole Nagy tallied the equalizer cutting to the middle and firing a wrist shot past Leaver’s glove. Rookie Cam MacDonald completed the comeback 30 seconds later beating Leaver high glove.

“It’s a huge win,” said Kidney, who iced the game with an empty-net goal with 37 seconds remaining. “Coming back in the third, and getting that win, shows a lot of character with our team. We’re rolling into the second round (and) we’re confident.”

Hoyt wasn’t surprised the third-year forward from Enfield got the team rolling in the third.

“Liam has been a workhorse ever since he got here and working as hard as he can paid off,” he said. “It meant the world to us. It gave us a lot of momentum.”

Early on

The game didn’t start Acadia’s way, as the visitors took the lead eight seconds in on Charlie Callaghan’s goal.

Kian Bell tied it eight minutes later on the power play and Hoyt gave the home side the lead midway through the period. St. F.X. tied it with 1:02 remaining in the frame on Raegan Wiles’ power-play goal.

The X-Men took a 4-2 lead in the second period on goals by Ethan Burroughs and Callaghan. The visitors held a 19-10 shot advantage in the period.

Kidney said it was nice to be able to eliminate X-Men. The teams have played in the first round each of the past two years with each squad winning once. St. F.X. were victorious last year, winning Game 1 in triple overtime and Game 2 in quadruple overtime in Wolfville.

“They’re our No. 1 rivals in this league,” he said.

“Being down two coming into the third, we knew what we needed to do and we went out there and got the job done.”

Charlie DesRoches and Cam Whynot each had two assists in the victory while Corson Hopwo, Bailey Peach and Kidney each contributed one.

Thomas Couture made 38 saves for the win while Leaver stopped 34 shots in the loss.

Hoyt, in his final year of university hockey, said the win was special.

“It means the world,” he said. “The guys worked hard all year and they deserved it.”

Round 2

The Axemen, who finished fifth in the regular-season standings, will meet the top-ranked UNB Reds in the best-of-five semifinal. The series starts Thursday, Feb. 27, in Fredericton.

The perennial powerhouse Reds went 28-1-1-0 during the regular season and swept all five games with the Axemen, including a 3-2 overtime victory Jan. 17 in Wolfville.

Hoyt said it’s battled UNB all year and the recent games have come down to a bounce or two.

“We are really optimistic going into this series,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anybody in that room that wouldn’t do anything to win.”

While happy to get through the first round, the Axemen are not complacent, the captain added.

“From the start of the year, we’ve talked about (knowing) we have a team that can really do something and prove something this year,” Hoyt said. “The job is not done. We just have to keep working as hard as we can. I think hard work pays off in the end.”

Hoyt is from Lincoln, N.B., about 10 kilometres from the Reds’ home base in Fredericton. He said it will be great to be able to play in front of his parents, family members and friends.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “I am just happy that they can see me one more time.”

Second-place Moncton will play the Saint Mary’s Huskies, who swept the UPEI Panthers in the other quarter-final.

Semifinal schedule

The schedule for the Atlantic University Sport hockey semifinal between the Acadia Axemen and UNB Reds. All games begin at 7 p.m. * denotes if necessary.

Acadia at UNB.

Friday, Feb. 2

Acadia at UNB.

UNB at Acadia.

UNB at Acadia.

Acadia at UNB.

Head-to-head

A look at the regular season results between the UNB Reds and Acadia Axemen hockey teams.

UNB 5 Acadia 0.

Nov. 9

UNB 6 Acadia 1.

UNB 3 Acadia 2 OT.

Feb. 1

UNB 5 Acadia 2.

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