Huskies defeat the Panthers on Saturday night

(Charlottetown, PE) In AUS men's hockey action, the UPEI Panthers hosted the Saint Mary's Huskies who fell 9-2, Saturday night at MacLauchlan Arena.

Saint Mary's opened the scoring at the 6:28 mark in the opening frame. Logan Denoble was the goal scorer who came off the rush to beat starting goaltender Simon Hofley. The Huskies pounced again less than a minute and a half later to build a 2-0 lead with a goal from Dylan Diperna.

The Panthers were able to get themselves onto the scoreboard with a breakaway goal from Riley Whittingham who received a nice feed from defenceman Andrew Picco to cut the lead 2-1. UPEI was unable to head into the first intermission down one as Calder Brooks of the Huskies buried a loose puck to re-establish their two-goal lead heading into the second.

In the middle frame, both teams maintained the high pace that was set in the first. Saint Mary's extended their lead with a goal from Anthony Repaci who received a nice pass from Hunter Garlent following a Panther turnover in the neutral zone to make it 4-1.

Down three goals, the Panthers still showed some fight as veteran Cody Payne pressured a Huskie defenseman to turn the puck over which resulted in a breakaway and a great finish to once again cut the Huskie lead to within two.

However, early in the third period Hunter Garlent put the Huskies up 5-2 and they did not allow the Panthers back into the game. The Huskies added four more goals in the third to pick up their first win in 2019. Goal scorers in the third for the Huskies included Bronson Beaton, Aaron Berisha, Stephan Johnson, and DiPerna.

The UPEI Panthers are back at it on Wednesday night when they face the St. FX X-Men in a makeup game at the MacLauchlan Arena.

Saint Mary's will host the UdeM Aigles Bleus on Wednesday night as well before traveling to Acadia on Saturday night.