Tommies Loss in a Heart Breaking Affair

Colin Martin taking a bow after scoring his second
goal of the game.  Martin had 3 points on the night.
Photo courtesy Dyaln Buell

In the best game I have personally watched the STU Men's Tommies play all season long, the UPEI Panthers took the lead late in the game to win 4-3.

This hands the Tommies their 13th loss of the season but by no means something they should hang their heads in shame for. The guys played hard from beginning to end with a short bench, missing  from tonight's lineup were forwards Randy Cameron #17, John MacDonald #11, Alexandre Leduc #7 and the pair of D-Men, Christian Morin #2 and rookie Jordan Thomas #6.

A notable stand-in on the Tommies injury riddled bench was Yuri Cheremetiev #9 on the defensive line. The full-time forward spent the night on the blue line and played very well out of his regular position. Yuri did have a wardrobe malfunction though at the 11 minute mark in the third period. Cheremetiev was noticed hobbling off the ice, he was missing a skate blade which took him out of the game until 3:27 mark very late in the game when team trainer Patrick Carmichael had the stand-in blueliner back on the ice.

The first period had the Tommies pouring on early pressure against the UPEI Panthers although the shots on goal did not represent that. The Panthers held the Tommies to 8 shots to their own 15 on Tommies goalkeeper Jonathan Groenheyde #31 he kept the Panthers at bay in the first though, by playing a shutout period. Stephen Sanza #23 missed some time in the first period due to an injury that seemed to catch him in the mouth keeping him on the bench for a few shifts while being patched up. Very late in the opening period with the game clock at 19:52 Colin Martin put one in the Panthers net assisted by Sanza #23 and Robert Zandbeek #21 giving the Tommies their second game in a row where they jumped out to a 1-0 lead.

The second period started off with the Panthers tying the game up with a power play goal with Alex Labonte in the penalty box at 1:23 in the frame, the goal was scored by Chris Desousa #28, assisted by Reggie Traccitto #95 and Dana Fraser #12.  The Tommies though, not showing signs of giving up came right back with the skilled hands of Colin Martin planting his second goal of the night past Panthers goaltender Wayne Savage #1, the goal was assisted by Chris Morehouse #18 and Stephen Sanza. The Panthers managed to tie up the game on another goal from Chris Desousa with help from Dana Fraser getting his second of three assists on the night as well as Jordan Knox #9. At the end of the second period the Panthers lead the shots on goal 31-24.

The third period started off in the Tommies favour with UPEI going a man down late in the second period with Zach McCullough in the penalty box on a hooking call. The Tommies kept the Panthers in their own end for the power play but were unable to go ahead with the man advantage. Shortly after the power play was over UPEI scored their first go ahead goal of the game, on a goal from Tyler Brown #26 with assists from Jordan Mayer #83 and Matthew Brenton #57. St. Thomas though not to be left out came back with the tying goal at 8:11 on a fast play by Stephen Sanza, assisted by Colin Martin with his third point of the game and Chris Morehouse. The Tommies were unable though to hold the Panthers off for one last goal scored by Jordan Knox on his second point of the game scored at 11:32 in the final frame.

The Tommies pulled Groenheyde with two minutes left but were unable to get the tying goal by the time the buzzer called for the end of the game.

The final score of the game 4-3 UPEI, with Jonathan Groenheyde turning away 38 of 42 shots for the STU Tommies at the other end of the rink UPEI's Wayne Savage #1 was able to post the win for the Panthers after having stopped 32 of STU's 35 shots on goal.

As said earlier in the post the Tommies have nothing to be ashamed of, the team is starting to hit their stride from this fans perspective and is very excited by the teams upcoming games against the Saint Marys Huskies and the St. FX X-Men. They will be the last games before the first half of the season comes to an end and the team gets ready for exams and Christmas break.

Murph