New season, new goals
MacIntyre Chevy Panthers expected to be among female league top teams this season
After losing in the championship series last March, Julia Carroll has never been more motivated to win in her life.
The Sydney resident has been a member of the MacIntyre Chevy Panthers for the past three seasons and was part of the club that was swept in the Nova Scotia Female Midget ‘AAA’ Hockey League finals by the Northern Subway Selects of Pictou County.
Although the loss was a difficult pill to swallow for the team, Carroll hopes the experience of playing in the league championship will help them this season.
“It wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for in the final, but I think we can use that as motivation.” said Carroll, the team’s goaltender.
“In my opinion, this is definitely the strongest team that we’ve had in the last three years — we’re not only looking to compete, but to win a championship title.”
The Panthers turned heads last season when the club finished in second place with a 14-6-4-0 record, the team’s best record since the formation of the league in 2008-09.
The team advanced to the league finals for the first time in franchise history last season, defeating Metro Boston Pizza of Halifax in five games in the semifinal.
The majority of last year’s team is returning this season, including Aimee O’Neill of Glace Bay, who represented Team Atlantic at the under-18 national women’s championship last season in Quebec City.
Defenseman Annie Gillis of Sydney is also in her third year with the Panthers. She’s looking forward to the new season and the new expectations.
“We don’t expect anything to come to us easily — we’ve worked for everything we’ve achieved,” said Gillis. “We’ve always had that underdog mentality and we still have that to this day.”
The Panthers opened the regular season last weekend with a pair of wins, 4-1 and 5-0, over the EDZA West Reds of Fredericton, N.B.
The Membertou-based team will continue its regular season this weekend when they host Station 6 Fire, formerly known as Metro Boston Pizza, in its home-opener at the Membertou Sport and Wellness Centre. The teams will meet on Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.
Carroll, who considers the team’s greatest strength to be its defensive game, encourages local hockey fans to attend the club’s games this weekend.
“It’s going to be a very good set of hockey games,” said Carroll, noting this year’s league is fairly young compared to last season.