League title in sight
Panthers open provincial title series with Northern this weekend
The 2017-18 season has already been a monumental one for the MacIntyre Chevy Panthers but they’re not done yet.
The Panthers open their firstever provincial female midget ‘AAA’ hockey championship series this weekend in New Glasgow when they face the Northern Subway Selects. Goaltender Julia Carroll is a big reason the Panthers earned a spot in the championship. The 16-year-old from Albert Bridge turned aside the Metro Boston Pizza in a shootout in Game 5 of their best-of-five opening round series for a 3-2 victory in Membertou on Feb. 25. Madison Corbett netted a hat trick and scored the shootout winner.
The series victory was the first ever for the Panthers franchise since the league was formed in 2008-09.
“It felt amazing,” Carroll said of the historic openinground win. “Going into Game 5, we definitely knew what was at stake and we knew what we wanted to do. When they went up two goals early, we obviously put ourselves in a hole, but we knew with the character our team has, we can come back and show how we can persevere through that and come together as a team when we needed to.”
The Panthers finished with
their best regular season record in the Nova Scotia Female Midget ‘AAA’ Hockey League at 14-6-4. Northern finished in first place with an 18-2-3 mark in the expanded seven-team loop that now includes three teams from
New Brunswick.
The Panthers and Selects most recently met in the final of the league championship tournament last weekend in Moncton that included the New Brunswick clubs, with the Selects eking out a 1-0 victory.
“There’s some excitement in the room. Some nerves, but obviously nerves are good because it shows that you care,” said Carroll, recently named a second team league all-star. “Some of their players have experience in the second round that we don’t, but we’re looking forward as a young squad to get in there, feel them out and see how they’re going to come out against us.”
Panthers head coach Troy Chiasson, named the league’s
coach of the year in his first season with the club, said the Selects are a deep team, but they’ve had close battles all season.
“We’re confident going in. We know what’s ahead,” he said. “If we play our game, it’ll be a good series and let the chips fall where they may.”
The winning team will represent Nova Scotia at the Atlantic Female Midget ‘AAA’ Hockey Championship in Mount Pearl, N.L., March 29 to April 1.
“There’s a 50/50 chance someone’s going to Newfoundland, so why can’t it be us?” said Carroll. “Hopefully, we’ll see what happens.”