The UPEI Panthers, forced to dress only 15 players due to injuries and ineligibility rules, pushed the game to a shootout, but fell 6-5 to the Acadia Axemen in Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey action Saturday night at the MacLauchlan Arena.
The Panthers were reduced to playing with 13 players for about two periods after Brandon Biggers and Michael MacIsaac were tossed from the game.
Biggers was given a game misconduct in the first period after an altercation with an Axemen player and MacIsaac’s night ended 34 seconds into the second period for checking from behind.
The Panthers held a 5-4 lead until Axemen forward Chris Bruton scored his second of the game with 21 second left and the goaltender pulled to send the game to overtime and then scored the winning goal in the shootout to give the Axemen the win.
Also scoring for the Axemen were Andrew Clark, Spencer Jezegou and David Lomas. Replying for the Panthers were Graham McNabb, Chad Locke, Jared Gomes, Matthew Carter and Thomas Waugh.
Kristofer Westblom got the win in goal for the Axemen while Wayne Savage took the loss.
With the loss, the Panthers drop to 2-2-2 and are tied with the Axemen, who improve to 3-3-0, for fifth.
Panthers head coach Dylan Taylor said his team played a good game and handled the adversity of being shorthanded to the best of its ability.
“There’s no more in the tank than what those guys gave tonight, they gave it everything they’ve got,” said Taylor.
The first period was mostly uneventful until Biggers racked up nine minutes in penalties at 17:58 after an altercation with an Axemen player but the game remained scoreless going into the intermission.
The second period was just 34 seconds in when MacIsaac was tossed for checking from behind.
The Axemen struck for two goals with Clark scoring at 1:58 and Jezegou at 2:41 but the Panthers replied with a pair of their own with McNabb scoring shorthanded at 5:13 and Locke tying the game at 2-2 at 12:13. Bruton gave the Axemen the lead at 18:21 going into the third.
The Panthers scored three goals in under five minutes in the third period on goals by Gomes at 6:55, Carter at 7:59 and Waugh at 11:24.
The Axemen forced overtime with goals by Lomas at 16:04 and Bruton at 19:39 to tie it at 5-5.
Bruton scored the shootout winner after Gomes scored for the Panthers and Philippe Bertrand replied for the Axemen.
The Panthers expect to get some bodies back in the lineup when they visit the Dalhousie Tigers Friday and the St. F.X. X-Men on Saturday.
Aaron Dawson, Cory Vitarelli and Taylor Raszka are good bets to be activated for this weekend and will help a team that has played strong despite the shortened bench.
"We’ve got points in four of our last five games,” said Taylor. “Team moral is buoyed by efforts like that.”
Department of Athletics