The X-Men dropped a 6-5 game to the UPEI Panthers in a shootout Saturday night in Charlottetown in their final regular season home game. The two teams will meet again this week in the AUS quarterfinals.

The Panthers established a 2-0 lead after the first period of play after goals were scored by Graham McNabb and Brandon Biggers. The Panthers lead was 3-2 after 40 minutes of play. Cory Vitarelli scored for UPEI while Kurt Jerrett and Stephen Simms notched the StFX goals. Simms scored on the power play.

The third period featured a flurry of scoring with five goals, and by the end of regulation time the game was deadlocked at 5-5. StFX goals were scored by Spencer McAvoy, Brennen Wray and Kevin Undershute while Matthew Carter and Chad Locke scored for the Panthers. Ryan Sparling and Brett Morrison each had two assists a piece for the X-Men.

After the ten minute overtime period didn’t solve anything, the game went into a shootout and Michael MacIsaac scored the winner for the Panthers.

Jhase Sniderman earned the win in nets for UPEI while Bryan Gillis took the loss for the X-Men, who outshot the Panthers by a 42-32 margin.

The game featured 76 minutes in penalty time, 44 minutes assessed to the Panthers and 32 to the X-Men. The Panthers were 0 for 6 in power play opportunities while the X-Men were 2 for 6.

The two teams will meet again this week in the AUS quarterfinals as the Panthers (15-11-2) wrapped up the season in fourth place and the X-Men (11-12-5) in fifth. Game 1 is slated for Wednesday night in Charlottetown, while Game 2 will be played Friday night, Feb. 19 at the StFX Keating Centre. Game 3, if necessary, will take place Sunday in PEI.

Sixth place Moncton (9-16-3) will meet third place Saint Mary’s (16-8-4) in the other best-of-three quarterfinal series with UNB and Acadia awaiting the winners for the semi-final round.

StfX Sports Information