St. FX/Acadia Update

In the aftermath of Saturday night's brawl between the St. FX X-Men and Acadia Axemen in Wolfville - which has since gained national attention with CBC, CTV, TSN, Yahoo! Sports, and Barstool Sports all picking up the story - details are beginning to emerge as to what exactly set off the fireworks, and they aren't pretty.

Here is a statement that was released by X-Men coach Brad Peddle and forward Sam Studnicka last evening that explain the events leading up to the melee:

Statement from @StFXAthletics regarding the comments that sparked a brawl on Saturday night against @AcadiaAthletics: pic.twitter.com/4wjmC6XPHP

— Sarah Ritchie (@SarahRitchieTV) February 4, 2019

Shortly after claiming they would not comment on the situation, Acadia put out their own press release in response:

Statement from Acadia University regarding February 2 hockey game between the Acadia Axemen and St. Francis Xavier X-Men.
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READ MORE - https://t.co/DURwCgBFO3 ... or see attached pic.twitter.com/LuIz4H3oCI

— Acadia Athletics (@AcadiaAthletics) February 5, 2019

AUS executive director Phil Currie has already stated that "the culture in hockey, 'chirping', as they call it, is commonplace and often players will chirp at each other. Based on what I understand, if this is the case, this is well over the line of what one would call chirping."

We don't want to speculate too much, but if the above allegations from St. FX are proven to be accurate (that this happened - and has been happening for the better part of three years with nothing being done to attempt to stop it), we could see some very severe punishment handed out to Acadia beyond the suspensions that will be assessed strictly because of hockey-related reasons.

Speaking of suspensions, according to the Halifax Chronicle Herald, "judgement day is coming for the Acadia and St. Francis Xavier men's hockey teams" Wednesday when "several automatic suspensions...are expected to be released."

Currie had suggested yesterday that not all of the suspensions may be announced right away, saying "our commissioner is working hard at getting the automatic sanctions done within the next 24 gours or so with a game looming Wednesday, Acadia at Saint Mary's. Others that need more investigations may take a bit longer. There is a lot to unpack with this incident."

We will keep you updated as the number and length of suspensions will not only affect UNB's next game - against St. FX on Friday night - but possibly the playoffs as well.