Arfa Ayub, Staff Contributor
Benoit Gervais said that there is a huge rivalry between the UPEI Panthers and the Dalhousie Tigers. That rivalry was clearly evident as the Tigers defeated the Panthers 6 – 5 in overtime last Friday. The win gives the Tigers a third straight victory.
“It was a real play-off game,” said Pete Belliveau, head coach of the Tigers. “We are playing more consistent and we are getting wins, executing the system a lot better.”
The win comes a week after the Tigers had defeated the defending CIS champion Saint Mary’s Huskies.
“It was a pretty big win against a team like UPEI,” said Dal forward Gervais after the game. Last year we only had a point against them. They just destroyed us, it wasn’t even funny. Every time we play them it makes for a good game. There is not much love between the two teams. To be able to win this one especially after we dropped the lead is big for us.”
Defenceman Brett Theberge scored the first goal of the game after deflecting a slap shot that came from just outside the left face-off circle, giving the Tigers a 1 – 0 lead. Brad McConnell scored the second goal of the game, with just under a minute remaining in the first, increasing the lead to 2 – 0. 19 seconds later, UPEI’s Cory Vitarelli scored to get his team on the board.
“We just didn’t come out and compete the way we should have, we didn’t play our game,” said Panthers forward Michael MacIsaac. ”We were lucky enough to come out with one point. We will take that one and the next game.”
The Tigers regained their two goal lead on a goal by Benjamin Breault to start the second. Starting goalie Bobby Nadeau, who made his third consecutive start after sitting out the last few because of the solid play by back-up Josh Disher, faltered with the puck as he came out to play it, which allowed Panther forward Thomas Waugh to gain the attacking zone. Waugh shot the puck past Nadeau and into the net. Following a flurry of chances for the Tigers, Francois Gauthier finally capitalized on a wrister to give the Tigers what seemed like a comfortable 4 – 2 lead.
“They are a gritty team. They are fast and they move the puck well so we had to show up and play the way we can but we didn’t so we lost points tonight,” said MacIsaac.
MacIsaac scored a power play goal for the Panthers, bringing his team back within one goal. After the buzzer went off to end the second Gervais slashed MacIsaac in the face. The two had been going at it the whole game, trash talking and getting on each others nerves.
“He throws himself down,” said Gervais, referring to MacIsaac. “That’s what he does. He tries to get under peoples skin but then sometimes you don’t see anything and this time I actually got him pretty bad and did not get to two minutes, so I guess I won that one.”
But MacIsaac felt differently.
“It’s just part of the game,” he said. “People battle and to me he is just another player.”
Panther’s forward Matt Carter opened the scoring in third to tie the game up at four. Breault replied for the Tigers 8:12 into the third. Matt Brenton scored late in the third to tie the game up at five. Dal forward Daniel Bartek would score 4:05 into overtime to give the Tigers the victory.
Recent Comments