Panthers slip past Huskies
A third-period goal by Riley Whittingham lifted the UPEI Panthers to a 3-1 victory over the Saint Mary’s Huskies on Wednesday in Atlantic University Sport pre-season hockey action in Truro, N.S.
Whittingham scored at 14:36 of the final period. Nathan Yetman added an empty netter with 26 seconds remaining to seal it for the Panthers.
After a scoreless first period, Gabe Guertler got UPEI on the board with a powerplay goal at 3:17 of the second. Jacob Friend replied for Saint Mary’s on a two-man advantage at 16:14 to send the teams to the second intermission in a 1-1 deadlock.
Panthers goaltender Simon Hofley was brilliant and made 38 saves, while his teammates fired 22 shots at Huskies netminders Eric Brassard and Marc Therriault.
The game – played at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro – was a fundraiser for the Truro Bearcats major bantam hockey team.
Both Panthers hockey squads are on the ice this weekend for exhibition action.
The men’s squad wraps up preseason play Saturday at 7 p.m. by hosting the Dalhousie Tigers.
“Exhibition is an important piece of the growth through training camp,” said head coach Forbes MacPherson. “It gives the team a chance to work on many of the details of our game versus competition. It just gets us one step closer to regular season action.”
The Panthers begin the regular season by hosting Moncton Wednesday at 7 p.m. at MacLauchlan Arena.
The women’s hockey squad takes on the Saint Mary’s Huskies tonight at 7 p.m. at MacLauchlan Arena and the UNB Varsity Reds Saturday at 2 p.m.
“The players are looking forward to this weekend’s home exhibition games,” said head coach Bruce Donaldson. “We had a great game against (Saint Mary’s) this past Sunday, so this will give us a chance to start to introduce line combinations and begin to experiment with our special-team play.”
The women’s Panthers, who are hosting the next two U Sports national championships, begin the regular season Oct. 12 by hosting St. Thomas.