UPEI shuts out St. FX to finish the regular season on strong note

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Kameron Kielly found himself right at home Saturday night at the Eastlink Centre.

The Charlottetown native had two goals, including one shorthanded, and an assist to help propel the UPEI Panthers to a 5-0 win over the St. FX X-Men to close out the Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey regular season. Kielly, a rookie with the Panthers, called the Eastlink Centre home for four seasons as a member of the Charlottetown Islanders. The Panthers played downtown as part of the Hockey Day in P.E.I. event.

The Panthers won five of their last six games, including wins over U Sports ranked teams UNB, St. FX and Acadia.

Matthew Mancina stopped all 23 shots he faced for the shutout while Brandon Hope made 27 saves in the loss. It was the Panthers first shutout of the season.

Marcus Power and Cody Payne each had a goal and an assist while Darcy Ashley also scored.

R.T. Rice, Sam Aulie, Beni Berisha, Gabe Guertler, Tanner McCabe and Ryan MacKinnon each had an assist.

Kielly finished the season with 42 points (13 goals and 29 assists) in 30 games, second in the conference behind Stephen Harper, who had 46 points in 30 games.

UPEI was 0-for-2 on the power play and killed all eight of the X-Men’s chances with the man advantage.

UPEI held 1-0 and 3-0 period leads.

The fifth-place Panthers (11-18-1) start the playoffs on the road in Halifax Wednesday against the third-seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies (18-10-2). A full schedule has not been released.