Panthers drop second straight game in loss to UNB

FREDERICTON, NB—Sydney Oitomen (Mississauga, ON) scored twice and added an assist to lead the UNB REDS in a 4-1 win over the UPEI Panthers in Atlantic University Sport women's hockey action, Friday night, at UNB's Aitken Centre. 

Oitomen's three-point effort earned her Subway Player of the Game honours. 

"Everyone is ecstatic," said Oitomen, of the win. "UPEI, they've been on a bit of win streak, so this was a really big game. Everyone is really happy." 

The REDS opened the scoring just 3:52 into the firsts period. 

Marley Van Den Oetelaar (Whitby, ON) found a loose puck in front of Panthers' goalie Sarah Forsythe (Riverview, NB) and was able to shovel it in to give the home team the early lead. 

The REDS went up 2-0 at the 13:37 mark when Myah Bowal (Terrace, BC) fed Oitomen who finished a nifty two-on-one play. 

Less than a minute later, at 14:36, McKinley Nelson (Calgary, AB) put the visitors on the board with her 11th goal of the season. 

In the second period, the REDS had a chance to add to their lead with 1:42 of 5-on-3 power-play, but the Panthers penalty kill held them off. 

A short time later, working even strength, Alayna Wagstaff (Olds, AB) took a drop pass from Oitomen and wired a low wrist shot past Forsythe to give UNB a 3-1 lead. 

Oitomen scored her second of the night in the third period, converting on her second attempt on a rebound given up by Forsythe. 

"Every game from here on out is playoff mentality, so I just came ready to play and that was the mentality of our whole team." 

With the win, the REDS are now 19-1-1-2 (W-L-SOL-OTL) and continue to sit atop the AUS standings. 

The Panthers record drops to 14-8-1-0 and are still in third place. 

"We knew we put up a good fight, but obviously, it wasn't good enough," said Nelson, of the Panthers night. "We've got a big game tomorrow, so we'll focus on the bounce back now and not the result we just had." 

"We had a couple of power-plays where we weren't capitalizing," she added. "Our PK was strong though, which helped out a lot, but we need to take advantage of the opportunities we get." 

It was a milestone night for two REDS. 

Ashley Stratton (Mount Pearl, NL) and Tamina Kehler (Chilliwack, BC) played in their 100th AUS regular season game. 

The pair are the all-time leaders in career games played in UNB women's hockey history. 

The Panthers will over-night in Fredericton as they're scheduled to face the St. Thomas Tommies on Saturday evening. 

The REDS next see action on Sunday, when they visit STFX. Game time is 3:00pm.

RECAP BY: Andy Campbell, UNB Athletics / PHOTOS BY: James West