STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS
Thomas Becker
Particular to SaltWire Community
Generally all you want is a little bit of luck in your facet.
The UPEI Panthers benefitted from a lucky bounce late within the third interval for the sport’s solely aim as they defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 1-0 in Recreation 1 of the best-of-three Atlantic College Sport (AUS) Girls’s Hockey Convention quarter-final sequence earlier than 174 followers at MacLauchlan Enviornment in Charlottetown on Feb. 14.
Learn extra
With lower than six minutes to play, Orianna MacNeil fired a shot from the purpose, however as an alternative of hitting the online, the puck went broad and deflected off Taylor Gillis’ arm earlier than discovering the again of the online.
“We had so many alternatives all through the sport and couldn’t appear to get one, so it was good to be rewarded with a fortunate bounce late within the recreation,” stated Gillis.
Each groups regarded tentative from the opening puck drop, not wanting to surrender the opening aim. In consequence, the primary interval featured simply 10 pictures on aim – seven by the Tigers.
“It took us 20 minutes to settle in and discover our groove, however I actually favored our second and third durations,” stated Panthers head coach Sean Fisher. “Gradual begins have been a problem for us recently, however our goaltender was actually good within the first after we wanted her.”
Sarah Forsythe recorded half of her saves within the opening 20 minutes and completed with 15 total for her first playoff shutout.
Forsythe wasn’t challenged a lot within the second when the Panthers began to take over the sport. They outshot their opponent 13-3 within the center stanza however couldn’t one by Grace Beer, who turned apart 30 pictures and was the perfect Tiger on the ice. The third interval was a lot of the identical.
The sequence now shifts to Halifax the place the 2 groups will battle it out in Recreation 2 on Feb. 17.
With their backs in opposition to the wall, Fisher is aware of the Tigers will come out robust, so his group should match their urgency from the beginning.
“Now we have to be good on the market,” Fisher stated. “The group (Tigers) is well-coached, and so they block one million pictures, so now we have to be prepared, particularly within the scoring zone.”