Reds defeat Panthers 5-2 in home opener

FREDERICTON, NB—The UNB REDS held off a feisty UPEI Panthers team to win their Atlantic University Sport regular season opener 5-2, at UNB's Aitken Centre on Friday night. 

Cole MacKay's (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) goal midway through the third period proved to be the winner. 

Newly named REDS' captain Jason Willms (Kitchener, ON) scored twice and added an assist to lead UNB. He was named Subway Player of the Game. 

"You always want to start the year on the right note and contribute to the team," said Willms. "In this locker room, anyone can contribute and tonight just happened to be my night." 

Austen Keating (Guelph, ON) and Ross MacDougall (St. Stephen, NB) also scored for the REDS. 

Drake Pilon (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) and Jaden Peca (Woodbridge, ON) scored for the Panthers, who led 1-0 after the first period. 

"Penalties got a bit of our momentum from us, and we let them back in the game," said UPEI captain Troy Lajeunesse (Sturgeon Falls, ON). "It is a little frustrating. I don't know if it's the reffing or if it's us, but we're going to watch the video and see what we can do to make it better." 

Tanner Somers (Miramichi, NB) made 27 saves on 29 shots for the win in the REDS' net. 

"I thought I had a decent game, there's always room for improvement and we'll build off that," he said. "We've still got 29 more games to play, but I'm pretty happy with the win." 

"He made some key saves for us," Willms said of Somers. "A couple chances when we were short-handed, I thought we were running around a little bit, but he was calm and that was huge for us." 

Lucas Fitzpatrick (Lower Sackville, NS) took the loss. He made 40 saves on 43 shots. 

UNB outshot the Panthers 45-29. 

The REDS head to Moncton on Saturday for a 7:00pm face-off against les Aigles Bleus. 

The Panthers host STFX next Friday, October 14th, in an 8:05pm start.  

RECAP/PHOTOS BY: Andy Campbell, UNB Sports Information