Panthers’ home-ice perfection snapped after 2-1 loss to Tommies

By Reegan MacAulay

As they say, all good things must come to an end, and that's what happened to the UPEI Panthers (7-4-1) and their home-ice dominance on Sunday afternoon at the MacLauchlan Arena.

Despite a strong effort that saw the Panthers generate the bulk of the game's offense, they struggled to bounce back after allowing a breakaway goal in the third period, with the addition of penalty troubles and a stout physical, defensive, and goaltending performance from the St. Thomas University Tommies (6-5-1) going against them in a close 2-1 loss.

It was their first loss at home this season, after winning six consecutive contests.

STU took advantage of a slow start by UPEI, with Trinity Webber blasting a high slap shot over Sarah Forsythe's shoulders from a few feet behind the high slot to give the Tommies a 1-0 lead at 0:47. They continued to hound the Panthers in their zone for over seven minutes, not allowing a single shot.

A series of power plays later in the first period gave UPEI some life, slowly shifting the offensive momentum in their favour. The second period is when things got interesting, particularly for Kierra St. Peter. At 10:36, St. Peter let a one-timer go off a feed from Savannah Hicks from the top of the high slot, and the puck went bar-down, but not in.

Her response? 

Six minutes and 43 seconds later, at 17:19, St. Peter added another highlight-reel goal to what's been an outstanding campaign thus far to tie the game 1-1. After a line change, St. Peter gained puck possession at center ice, sped into the offensive zone, deked the puck past a Tommies defender, and snapped a far-side, top-shelf shot over Katie Sweeney's blocker.

It was her seventh goal of the season – tied with Brooke Henderson for the most on the team – and her sixth in the previous six games.

Unfortunately, that was all she and the Panthers had the rest of the way. Despite outbeating the Tommies 13-5 in third-period shots and having countless opportunities to seize the upper hand, a 2-1 STU goal by Megan Kirkpatrick at 7:48 and a slew of late-game penalties ultimately buried them in a hole they couldn't dig out of en route to the final buzzer.

Both teams combined for 36 penalty minutes, but no power-play goals were scored. UPEI went 0-for-9, and STU went 0-for-8. Forsythe denied 24 of 26 shots, while Sweeney turned back 37 of 38 shots. St. Peter was named the Panthers Player of the Game.

The Panthers will spend the next two weeks on the road before their next home game on Nov. 28, starting with a trip to SMU this Thursday, followed by a visit to Dalhousie on Friday.

Photos by Janessa Vanden Broek