By Thomas Becker, UPEI Athletics
Coming into Friday night's contest, the UPEI Panthers had been struggling to score, but little did they know, a goal-scoring explosion was on the horizon, as they overpowered the Dalhousie Tigers 10-2.
The star of the night was undoubtedly third-year forward Kaleb Pearson, who had a career game he'll never forget. Pearson was a force to be reckoned with on the ice, showcasing his scoring prowess in spectacular fashion. He found the back of the net four times, which included a natural hat trick, and proved to be an unstoppable force in front of the Tigers' goal.
Daylon Groulx added two goals for the home team, while Josh Currie, Elias Cohen, Ben McFarlane and Chase Lammi also scored in the win. Kurtis Henry, Alex De Gagné and Keiran Gallant combined for nine of the Panthers' 17 assists, with the captain (Henry) leading the charge with four.
The Panthers (2-3) got off to a rocky start, conceding a goal in the first 23 seconds. On the scoring play, Shaun Miller gathered speed through the neutral zone before wiring a shot off the bottom of the crossbar and in.
The frustration from the fans was palpable after the goal, but UPEI responded at 4:44 when Currie barrelled down the slot and fired a wrist shot in the top left corner following a Cade Kowalski shot that was blocked by a Tiger defender.
The Panthers then erased any memory of a slow start after scoring the go-ahead goal at 12:08. After Kurtis Henry dropped a pass off to Currie, the rookie sent it back to Henry, who found Cohen crashing toward the net where he tipped it past goaltender Nicholas Chenard, who had a forgettable evening.
The Tigers (2-4) tied up again on a goal from Derek Gentile at 16:29. The sophomore forward took a pass from Miller and fired a shot off netminder Jonah Capriotti before slapping the rebound home to make it 2-2 after a period of action.
From that point on, it was all UPEI, and they were determined to change their fortunes around. They stormed out of the gate with relentless offensive pressure, while the Tigers found themselves on the back foot as they struggled to keep up with UPEI's ferocious attack.
A costly mistake by Chenard 67 seconds into the second period led to the Panthers' third goal. The goalie tried to play the puck behind the net, but gave it away to Noah Sedore, who passed it in front to Groulx for the easy backhand.
Then it was Pearson's time to shine, as he lit up the scoreboard, scoring three consecutive times for the natural hat trick. Midway through the period, he stole the puck in his own zone and raced through up the ice before looking off a teammate and firing a wrist shot by Chenard.
UPEI took a 4-2 lead into the third period, where they erupted for six more goals. Pearson added a pair less than four minutes into the frame.
Groulx scored his second of the night on the team's only power play goal. At 9:54, the puck cycled to Henry whose slap shot ricocheted off Chenard and landed in front of Grolux, who made no mistake and put away the rebound while on one knee.
After McFarlane and Lammi made it 9-2 on goals at 15:17 and 15:53, Pearson punctuated the win with his fourth of the game that came with a little over a minute remaining.
The Panthers look to build off this win Saturday night when they host the St. FX X-Men. The Tigers will face the X-Men in their next game on October 25.