Charlottetown, PEI – The StFX X-Men fell 4-1 to the UPEI Panthers in an afternoon match-up Saturday in a chippy affair.
The Panthers got out to a 2-0 lead in the first period as Darcy Ashley (3:58) and Mason Wilgosh (8:08) opened the scoring for the home team. Reggie Tracitto assisted on both goals, with Nelson Armstrong also picking up a helper on the Ashley goal. Wilgosh's tally came on the power play.
X-Men forward Jarrad Struthers cut the Panthers lead in half as he scored a power play marker for StFX at 13:04. Jagger Dirk and Bronson Maschmeyer assisted on the play.
The Panthers went up 3-1 on a second period power play goal by Travis McIsaac, from Chris Desousa and Tyler Brown. The power play goal came after StFX's Cole Grbavac and UPEI's Spencer Metcalfe tustled and were assessed five minute fighting majors and game misconducts with Grbavac receiving a slashing major.
The rough play continued in the second and third periods as StFX had 63 penalty minutes on 11 infractions in the game and UPEI 46 minutes on 8 infractions.
The X-Men were held off the scoreboard in the final two periods, despite outshooting the Panthers 13-7 in the third.
Brock Beukeboom rounded out the scoring for the Panthers at 12:38 of the third period, assisted by Brent Andrews.
Shots ended 29-27 in favor of the X-Men.
Connor Wilkinson earned the win in nets for UPEI, while Drew Owsley was tagged with the loss for StFX.
Next on the AUS schedule for the Panthers (3-2-1) is a Friday night home game on October 31st versus Saint Mary's. StFX (2-4-0) will host the UNB Varsity Reds, also on October 31st at the StFX Keating Centre. Game time is 7:00 pm.