CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The math is simple for the UPEI Panthers.
A win tonight will clinch them a spot in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) women’s hockey playoffs. UPEI (12-11-1) plays the Dalhousie Tigers (9-14-2) tonight at 7 p.m. at the Halifax Forum.
“You want to earn your way in,” head coach Bruce Donaldson said Thursday. “The next piece (would be) to see if we can get home-ice advantage.”
Four playoff spots have been clinched while three teams (UPEI, Moncton and Dalhousie) are chasing the final two berths.
“Everybody is paying attention to that playoff drive,” Donaldson added. “Last weekend’s games felt like playoff games. They were intense, and they were physical.”
The Panthers have four games remaining in the regular season with three of them against teams ahead of them in the standings.
The Panthers complete the weekend Saturday in Antigonish, N.S., with a 7 p.m. contest with the St. FX X-Women (16-6-3).
The Panthers have played in a lot of close games this season and Donaldson said it is a theme throughout the conference. A lot of time the difference has been special teams play.
“Five-on-five, the league is very even,” he said. “The great part is . . . we know we can compete against every team in the AUS.”
Forward Shelby Foran will not play this weekend with a jaw injury while defenceman Caroline Daoust received an automatic one-game suspension for a hit to the head penalty in the third period of Wednesday’s 4-0 home victory over the Mount Allison Mounties.
Rachel Colle had a goal and two assists and Camille Scherger stopped all 32 shots she faced in the victory. Kelly Clements and Jolena Gillard added power-play goals while Jenna Pellerin scored at even strength.
Donaldson said it was nice to see the power play click twice and once on a play they had worked on in practice.
Katelynn Nice had two assists while Faith Steeves, Gillard and Clements each had one.
Lindsay Wray stopped 26 shots in the loss.
The Panthers held 2-0 and 4-0 period leads. UPEI went 2-for-2 on the power play while killing all five of Mount Allison’s opportunities.
Mount Allison (4-20-0) is in the basement.
The Panthers are hosting the U Sports national championship from March 14-17 at MacLauchlan Arena. The organizing committee is busy working behind the scenes to prepare for the event. They will be in the need of volunteers for the event, including seven team hosts for the participating squads. The committee would like to have at least two bilingual team hosts for the event. Anyone interested in volunteering can call Donaldson at 902-393-0662.
Remaining games
A look at the UPEI Panthers remaining games in the Atlantic University Sport women’s hockey season.
Tonight
7 p.m. – UPEI at Dalhousie.
Saturday
7 p.m. – UPEI at St. FX.
Saturday, Feb. 9
2 p.m. – UPEI at UNB.
Sunday, Feb. 10
2 p.m. – St. FX at UPEI.
