Panthers top Tommies 4-3

(CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I.) – UPEI is peaking at the right time, pushing their winning streak to three game with a 4-3 win over St. Thomas in the final game of the regular season on Saturday night at MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown in front of 920 fans.

On a night when UPEI honoured six seniors, the Panthers got the win to finish the season with a 13-13-2 record. St. Thomas finishes the season with a 2-22-4 record. The Panthers will now face fourth-ranked StFX in the first round of the playoffs, which begin next week.

St. Thomas came out strong in the first period, scoring three goals in the first 11 minutes of the frame.

Colin Martin (London, Ont.) started of the scoring for the Tommies with a goal 2:25 into the game. Jordan Moore (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) and Bryce Milson (Miramichi, N.B.) assisted on the goal.

Ninety seconds later, Marcus Power (St. John's, N.L.) tied it up for UPEI off passes from Brent Andrews (Hunter River, P.E.I.) and Spencer Metcalfe (Oakville, Ont.).

At 6:44 of the period, Shane McColgan (Redondo Beach, California) scored on a St. Thomas power play from Zach Hall (Belleville, Ont.) and Felix Poulin (Ste. Julie, Que.).

The Tommies then extended their lead to two on a goal by JC Campagna (Dublin, Ohio) from Eric Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ont.) and Connor Sanvido (Maple Ridge, B.C.).

With five minutes remaining in the first, Brock Beukeboom (Port Perry, Ont.) pulled UPEI to within one with a goal that was assisted by Matthew Brenton (Stewiacke, N.S.) and Cole MacMillan (Stanhope, P.E.I.). The shot count was 12-11 for STU in the first period.

UPEI's Matt Mahalak (Monroe, Michigan) and St. Thomas' Philippe Trudeau (Blainville, Que.) both settled in after a shaky first and played very well in net for the final two periods.

UPEI peppered Trudeau with 21 shots in the second and Trudeau stopped all of them until Power solved him with 1:07 left in the frame on the power play. Reggie Traccitto (Oakville, Ont.) and Brent Andrews picked up assists on the goal.

STU was only able to get six shots on Mahalak in the period.

The third period was evenly matched with UPEI outshooting St. Thomas 12-11.

A Tommies penalty with 10 minutes left ended up being the difference as Chris Desousa (Mississauga, Ont.) scored a power play goal from the slot with 8:37 left in the game. Marcus Power and Tyler Brown (Detroit, Michigan) assisted on the goal.

Mahalak picked up the win for the Panthers stopping 26 of the 29 shots he faced, including all 17 shots in the final two periods. Despite the loss, Trudeau was very solid in net for St. Thomas, stopping 40 of the 44 shots UPEI put on net.

Marcus Power was the Subway player of the game with two goals and one assist in the game.

UPEI will now play at StFX in the opening game of the 2015 Subway AUS men's hockey quarterfinal playoff series, which is set to begin on Feb. 11. This was the final game of St. Thomas' season, as they will not be moving on to the AUS playoffs.

Source: Ryan Lloyd for UPEI Sports Communications