Panthers earn comeback win versus Huskies

(CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I.) - After giving up a goal in the first period, UPEI scored three straight to beat Saint Mary's 3-1 Saturday night at MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown in front of 845 fans.

With the win, the Panthers improve to 10-11-2 on the season and sit fifth in the AUS, while the Huskies fall to 16-7-1 and sit in fourth position in the conference.

UPEI came out of the gates a little slow, but rallied behind strong games from goaltender Mavric Parks (Eganville, Ont.), captain, Mason Wilgosh (Winnipeg, Man.) and assistant captains Chris Desousa (Mississauga, Ont.) and Tyler Brown (Detroit, Michigan) to put three goals in the net in the final two periods.

The first period was relatively quiet with only 14 total shots, however Saint Mary's was able to score a late goal with four minutes left. Bradley Greene (Tilting, N.L.) scored the goal for the Huskies with assists going to Stephen Gillard (St. John's, N.L.) and Ben Duffy (Lower Sackville, N.S.).

Saint Mary's goalie Anthony Peters (Blyth, Ont.) was solid in the net, stopping all eight shots he faced in the period.

The momentum switched in the second period with Mason Wilgosh scoring two goals less than five minutes apart for the Panthers. The first goal came 12 minutes into the period and was assisted by his assistant captains Desousa Brown. The second goal came 16:18 into the period and saw assists go to Desousa and Nelson Armstrong (Peterborough, Ont.). UPEI outshot the Huskies 17-9 in the period.

The third period saw Saint Mary's outshoot UPEI 16-6 but Parks was up to the challenge, stopping each of those shots. The third and final Panthers goal came with 6:20 left when Desousa put a shot in the back of the net off a pass from Brown.

Parks stopped all but one of the 31 shots he faced from Saint Mary's, while Peters stopped 28 of the 31 shots that UPEI put on net.

The Subway player of the game was UPEI's Wilgosh who finished the game with two goals.

UPEI has three road games in the next week, visiting Moncton (8-13-2) on Wednesday, Saint Mary's on Friday, and StFX (16-7-1) on Saturday.

Saint Mary's will play host to UPEI and St. Thomas (2-17-4) on Friday and Saturday. All games are scheduled for 7 p.m.

Source: Ryan Lloyd for UPEI Sports Communications