Antigonish, NS - The UPEI Panthers kept their playoff hopes alive with a 1-0 shutout win over the first-place StFX X-Women in AUS hockey action Friday night at the Keating Centre.
The Panthers jumped to a 1-0 advantage when Olivia Doughart (Summerside, PE) notched an unassisted marker. She retrieved an errant pass up the middle of the offensive zone by the X-Women, before depositing the puck behind Sojung Shin (Seoul, Korea).
The teams played to a scoreless second period, with the X-Women going 0-for-3 on the power play. Marie-Soleil Deschenes (Ile-Perrot, QC) made several key saves, including one with the glove hand on a point blast from X-Women defender Nicole Corcoran (Bloomfield, PE), to preserve the one-goal Panther lead.
The third period was also scoreless, making it back-to-back games for the X-Women without a goal.
Deschenes made 28 saves for the win, while Shin turned aside 20 shots in the loss.
The three stars of the game were Deschenes, Doughart and Schyler Campbell (Galloway, NB) of the X-Women.
The final home game of the regular season marked Senior Night for the X-Women. Alex Normore (Bedford, NS), Jenna Downey (Stratford, ON), Kira Dube (Calgary, AB), Kara Power (New Glasgow, NS) and student therapist Courtney Mahoney of Antigonish were honoured for their contributions to the program and StFX Athletics.
With the win, the Panthers wrapped up the regular season with an 8-13-3 record, while the X-Women dropped their second consecutive game to fall to 20-3-0. The Panthers handed the X-Women two out of three of their defeats in the 2014-15 campaign.
The X-Women, who have clinched first place in the conference and an opening round bye in the playoffs, did not have Normore, Downey, Dube and Daley Oddy (Cranbrook, BC) in the line-up. Normore and Oddy are with Team Canada in Spain competing at the World University Games, while Downey and Dube are recovering from injuries.
The X-Women will wrap up the AUS regular season Saturday, Feb. 7, when they face the Dalhousie Tigers in Halifax. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
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