An “embarrassing” effort by the UPEI Panthers men’s hockey team resulted in a devastating 4-2 loss at the hands of the archrival Moncton Blue Eagles, team coaches said Wednesday night following the disappointing outcome.
It wasn’t a pretty sight, as the Panthers saw an early 1-0 lead disappear en route to dropping their second consecutive home game to Moncton in front of more than 1,200 fans at MacLauchlan Arena.
And UPEI’s coaches had no shortage of words to describe the team’s effort after the game.
“Right from the second shift we got completely dominated in every area of the game except for one, goaltending,” said UPEI head coach Forbes MacPherson.
“It was just embarrassing, it was an embarrassing effort,” added assistant coach Kris MacDonald. “We have a big crowd like that and we come out that flat.”
The Panthers were outshot by a large margin in every period except for the third but many of the shots weren’t of the usual UPEI quality.
“They had more breakaways than we had scoring chances,” said MacPherson.
Panther forward Devin Praught scored the game’s first goal at 5:25.
UPEI’s other goal was scored by Chad Locke 7:57 into the third to make it 4-2.
The game-winner was a power-play goal scored by Moncton’s Marc-Andre Cote 12:54 into the second.
Moncton’s other goals were scored by Francis Rochon, Remi Blanchard and Alex Quesnel.
Moncton was the only team to score on a power play, going one for five.
It was just embarrassing, it was an embarrassing effort. We have a big crowd like that and we come out that flat. - Kris MacDonald, UPEI Panther assistant coach
UPEI failed to capitalize on any of their seven power-play chances, including a two-minute interference call on Moncton only 41 seconds into the game.
“Our power play totally worked against us every time,” added assistant coach Kris MacPhee. “We got out-worked on our power play every single time.”
UPEI goalie Mavric Parks stopped 30 of the 34 shots he faced, while Moncton’s Andre-Michel Guay stopped 28 of the Panthers’ 30 shots.
The win saw Moncton move into third-place in the highly-competitive Atlantic University Sport conference, while UPEI stays in fifth place with a regular season record of 11-8.
A UPEI win would have put both teams into a fourth-place tie.
“The thing is, it’s our biggest rivalry. Our biggest rivalry and we come out like that,” said MacDonald. “Very disappointing.”
UPEI captain Dylan Quaile said while the team started coming back in the third with Locke’s goal and more scoring chances, it wasn’t enough.
“We didn’t come prepared, we came out flat and it showed,” he said. “We got to put this game behind us, we got to battle back at practice tomorrow and be ready for the road trip (this weekend).”
UPEI hits the road to take on the St. Thomas Tommies in Fredericton on Friday night and the UNB Varsity Reds on Saturday.
Game times are 7 p.m.
