By Reegan MacAulay, UPEI Athletics
The UPEI Panthers men's hockey team (10-12-1-3) earned a big point against the Dalhousie Tigers (7-17-2-0) on Saturday, Jan. 27 at the MacLauchlan Arena, clinching a playoff spot despite losing 3-2 in a shootout.
The young squad almost pulled off an intense comeback rally with two third-period goals but couldn't find luck in extra time. It was UPEI's third shootout loss this season, the team's third on home ice, dropping the Panthers to 0-3 in shootouts.
Both teams failed to get on the board in the first period. The floodgates opened in the second period as second-year forward Derek Gentile (Sydney, NS) potted a rebound past veteran goaltender Jonah Capriotti to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead at 5:56. 10 minutes later, forward Ethan O'Rourke (Prince George, BC) surprised everyone with a shot that barely slid under Capriotti to extend Dalhousie's lead to two at 15:53.
After many close calls throughout the game, including multiple post shots and brilliant pad saves by Tigers rookie goaltender Robbie Forbes, UPEI's struggles finally ended at 6:59. Rookie forward Josh Currie collected a pass from defenseman Kurtis Henry and sniped a shot short-side bar-down. The Panthers kept hounding Forbes for the next 10 minutes, finally getting another shot past him at 17:45. Rookie forward Keiran Gallant fed a pass to Noah Sedore from behind the net, and Sedore one-timed a shot underneath Forbes to tie the game.
In overtime, goaltender Jonah Capriotti stood on his head as Dalhousie was the only team to register shots the entire period, 3-0. UPEI had a close call with a tripping penalty against Keiran Gallant, but the team managed to kill the penalty in the dying seconds.
In the shootout, Gentile and O'Rourke sealed the deal for the Tigers, while only Sedore scored for the Panthers.
The final shots were 39-30 in favour of UPEI. Capriotti denied 28 shots for the Panther while Forbes tunred away 37 shots for Dalhousie in what was just his fourth start for the Tigers. He has now won his last two starts. UPEI went 0-for-4 on the power play and Dalhouse went 0-for-2. Keiran Gallant was awarded UPEI Player of the Game (two assists) and Robbie Forbes was awarded Dalhousie Player of the Game (37-save win).
The Panthers return to action next weekend with one final road trip to Nova Scotia, visiting the Saint Mary's Huskies (13-12-1-0) on Friday, Feb. 2 in Halifax, N.S. and the Acadia University Axemen (8-14-1-3) on Saturday, Feb. 2 in Wolfville, N.S. The Tigers have a two-game home stand next weekend. They face the Moncton Aigles Bleus on Friday followed by the undefeated UNB REDS on Saturday. Both games are at the Halifax Forum and are both schedules for 7pm.