Panthers squeak out win over Tommies

Rookie Alex St- Arnaud gets set in the third period.
Photo credit: Shawn Murphy

It may not have been a win tonight for Pat Powers & company but there certainly is renewed optimism around the Tommies.  Despite the strong showing tonight the Panthers gutted out a 2 to 1 victory over STU.

Strong defensive play by St. Thomas was obvious right from puck drop but it was UPEI who scored first on a lucky deflection goal  by Cody McNaughton at 15:38 of the first.  Shots after one period were 8 to 6 for UPEI.

The Tommies answered back at 5:55 of the second frame when Simone Bisonnette scored with assists to Jordan Thomas and Jason Trott.  UPEI would get the eventual game winner at 9:43 on an unassisted marker by Jordan Mayer.  Shots in the second period were 10 to 8 for the Panthers.

The third period saw Jon Groenheyde replaced by Alex St. Arnaud in the STU net, who was perfect facing  9 shots, some of them from point blank range.  STU fired 12 shots the other way but could not solve the PEI goalie in the third period.

Not playing for the Tommies tonight were Felix Poulin and Marc-Andre Levesque.  BOX SCORE

All told it was a good performance by STU and we get to see early that they will be hard to play against every night.  The Tommies will be back in action next Friday the 27th against St-FX on the road and then back home on the 28th versus the Carleton Ravens.