A Trio of Calgary Friends Are Reuniting With the UPEI Panthers Men’s Hockey Team
Whittingham, Zinkan joining Labelle with men's hockey Panthers
Forward Riley Whittingham and defenceman Bobby Zinkan will join the Panthers this season after finishing their junior careers with the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals. Forward Chad Labelle will be entering his second season in the green and white.
"We grew up playing together, and now going to school and playing university hockey together, is basically a dream," Whittingham said Thursday.
The best friends played atom, peewee, bantam and midget on the same Calgary squads before entering the Western Hockey League.
Panthers head coach Forbes MacPherson said previous relationships help as the Panthers build its team.
"You're in a loop of friends there that already has instant chemistry," he said. "Sometimes it takes teams weeks or months or seasons to build that chemistry whereas now we have an instant pocket of kids that have grown up together."
Zinkan said when the Vancouver Giants placed him on waivers in 2014-15, he received calls from junior A squads. While most of the interest was from western Canada, there was a call from Summerside general manager Pat McIver.
"It sounded appealing to me," said Zinkan, whose grandmother grew up in Summerside but now lives in Winnipeg. "I kind of took a chance. I went out there and I ended up loving it and now I'm staying for the next five years."
When Whittingham was traded by the Spokane Chiefs during the 2015-16 season he decided to look east and joined Zinkan in Summerside.
"I loved it there," Whittingham said. "Prince Edward Island seems like a great place to live."
Whittingham said he is a power forward who can score and control play low in the zone. The six-foot-two, 195-pound forward can play either wing, but prefers the right side.
"He's going to add some size and strength and some offensive ability to our lineup," MacPherson said.
"We project him to be an impact forward in this league,"
The bench boss sees some similarities between Zinkan and one of the Panthers former all-stars.
"Over time we really believe, just like Matt Maione, he'll become a premier defenceman in the AUS," he said. "He does everything very well. He competes very hard in the d zone, he has good feet, and he moves the puck very well."
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