(CHARLOTTETOWN, PE) The UPEI Panthers scored a rare win over the UNB REDS on Saturday night, in the lone game on the Atlantic University Sport schedule.
The win was the first by the Panthers, over the REDS, in almost four years.
"We love our fans and they're so dedicated," said Panthers head coach Forbes MacPherson of the support for his team. "People are back at the rink again and I think they're hungry to be part of this atmosphere after time away from it, and we're enjoying it."
Rookie goaltender Jonah Capriotti (Mount Hope, ON) continued to shine, making 30 saves for his eighth win of the season. Troy Lajeunesse (Niagara Falls, ON) led all scorers with three assists, while Drake Pilon (Sault Ste. Marie, ON), Carson MacKinnon (Summerside, PE) and Filip Rydstrom (Stockholm, SWE) each found the back of the net.
"It's just hard work playing against them," Capriotti said. "We came into this (game) feeling good. We knew what we had to do and everyone did their job tonight."
With an injury-riddled opponent coming into town in their second game of a back-to-back, a rested UPEI squad knew they couldn't waste the opportunity to pull off an upset.
Despite being outshot in each period, it was the Panthers who struck first. At 13:31 of the first period, Pilon fired a wrist shot to the top left corner for the 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless second period, the Panthers would add to their lead 46 seconds into the third, when Lajeunesse delivered a pass off the boards to MacKinnon, who slapped home his third goal of the season.
The REDS still had plenty to say in this game, and got within a goal at 11:14 when Benjamin Gagne (Ste-Augustine, QC) took a pass across the neutral zone, tapped it in front for Nicolas Guay (Chateauguay, QC), who took a couple steps and wired a wrist shot past Capriotti to make it 2-1.
Rydstrom ended any hope of a comeback with an empty net goal at 19:15.
"You have to tip your hat to UNB, they played unbelievable," MacPherson said. "They came in short-staffed, but we did what we had to do and that says something about us."
The REDS, now 16-2-0-0, next action is December 30th, when they host the McGill Redbirds in exhibition play. UNB's next regular season game is January 7th, 2022, when they host Moncton.
UPEI, now 8-7-2-1, returns to regular season play on January 5th, when they visit Moncton.
RECAP BY: Thomas Becker/for UPEI Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Janessa Hogan/for UPEI Athletics