HALIFAX, N.S. – It wasn’t the start the UPEI Panthers were looking for.
The Saint Mary’s Huskies scored three times in four minutes of the first period en route to a 6-2 victory to take Game 1 of their Atlantic University Sport quarter-final. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Friday at 7 p.m. at MacLauchlan Arena.
Anthony Repaci scored 4:20 into the first period on Wednesday and Aaron Berisha made it 2-0 38 seconds later. Repaci tallied his second of the night at 8:02, ending Panthers goalie Matt Mahalak’s night after allowing three goals on seven shots.
Connor McGlynn, Bronson Beaton and Hunter Garlent also scored in the win. Former Charlottetown Islanders forward Jake Coughler, Alexandar Peters and Beaton each had two assists while singles went to Berisha, Garlent, Dylan Diperna and Michael Curtis.
Cody Payne and Kameron Kielly each had a power-play goal for UPEI. Marcus Power and Darcy Ashley had assists.
Eric Brassard made 19 saves for the win while Matthew Mancina stopped 26 shots in relief.
Saint Mary’s, which hasn’t lost to UPEI all season, held 3-0 and 5-0 period leads.
The Panthers were 2-for-8 on the power play while the Huskies were 2-for-4.
