X-Men down Panthers 5-1 in Charlottetown

(CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I.) - In a game that had 46 penalties for 212 penalty minutes, StFX dominated the score line with five consecutive goals in the second and third periods to beat the Panthers 5-1 Friday night at MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown in from of 749 fans.

With the win, the X-Men improve to 15-7-1 and sit in fourth in the AUS, while the Panthers fall to 9-11-2 and are in fifth in the conference.

The game was chippy from the beginning, with 12 10-minute misconducts and three game misconducts.

UPEI seemed to be in good position for the first 30 minutes of the game as they held a one-goal advantage and a significant shot advantage. However, StFX turned the game around and scored five unanswered goals in the final 30 minutes of the game.

The first period did not see any goals and but good goaltending was on full display as Drew Owsley (Lethbridge, Alta.) turned away each of the 13 shots he faced for StFX while Matt Mahalak (Monroe, Michigan) stopped all seven of the X-Men's shots.

UPEI's Tyler Brown (Detroit, Michigan), in his first game back from a broken leg, opened the scoring 5:31 into the second period. Assists went to Marcus Power (St. John's, N.L.) and Brent Andrews (Hunter River, P.E.I.) on the goal.

Ten minutes into the period, Robert Slaney (Portugal Cove, N.L.) tied it up for the X-Men and then put them in front three minutes later. Ted Stephens (Whitehorse, Yukon) assisted on both goals with Jagger Dirk (Penticton, B.C.) picking up an assist on the go-ahead goal.

With one minute remaining in the period, Kristof Kontos (Penetanguishene, Ont.) made it 3-1 with an unassisted goal. Shots were 16-9 for UPEI in the second period.

The third period is when both teams really struggled to keep their heads, which resulted in 30 penalties in the period.

StFX added two more goals to their tally in the period. The first came on the power play by Michael Kirkpatrick (North Sydney, N.S.) just over six minutes into the period with the second came with under four minutes left in the game by Cole Grbavac (Calgary, Alta.). Nathan Chiarlitti (Maple, Ont.) and Jagger Dirk assisted on Grbavac's goal.

Shots were 11-5 for the X-Men in the final frame.

Drew Owsley stopped all but one of the Panthers' 35 shots on goal. Matt Mahalak stopped 22 of the X-Men's 27 shots for UPEI.

The Subway player of the game was StFX's Robert Slaney with two goals in the big win.

StFX will be back on the ice Saturday at St. Thomas (2-16-4) in Fredericton at 7 p.m. UPEI will host Saint Mary's (16-6-1) at the same time.

Source: Ryan Lloyd for UPEI Sports Communications