Pickering Panthers open Centennial Cup tournament with 9-2 thrashing of Red Lake
Published May 19, 2022 at 5:23 pm
The Pickering Panthers got their national championship aspirations off on the right foot today with a convincing 9-2 thrashing of the eighth-ranked Red Lake Miners in Game 1 of the Centennial Cup tournament.
Seven different players scored for the Ontario league champs and the Panthers got going early by chasing Red Lake starter Kiev Kineshanko with three goals in the first seven minutes.
Lucas La Palm, Elijah Pilosof and Dustin Hutton provided all the offence Pickering would need and even through the two clubs would trade two goals each to round out the period, the game was never in doubt. Brady Harron scored both Red Lake markers, while Ben Pickel and Ian Martin (on the power play) scored for the Panthers to give them a 5-2 lead heading into the second.
The Panther defence then tightened up, Zach Roy snuffed out what scoring opportunities Red Lake mustered and Pickering cruised to the win, adding one more in the second on a breakaway from Jake Partridge and three more in the third from Partridge, Ethan Doyle and Martin.
Pickering had just three days to prepare and travel for this game but Head Coach Rob Pearson told Hockey Canada he didn’t see it as a negative.
“You can look at it both ways,” he said. “If you’re going to sit for two, three, four weeks and be waiting, sometimes you’re a little rusty. When you just win a series and you [only] have a couple days rest with a little travel, hopefully you can just keep the momentum running and keep it going.”
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It certainly worked just fine for the Panthers, who now sit (temporarily) alone in first place in tournament standings.
Next up for Pickering is a date with the host Estevan Bruins Saturday night.
Lucas La Palm opened the scoring for the Pickering Panthers Thursday afternoon in Game 1 of the Centennial Cup
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertisingGAME OVER! Seven different players score goals to help the @PanthersOJHL to a win over the @RedLakeMiners to get Group A started.
📊 https://t.co/BTkj9MEEji#CentennialCup | @TimHortons | @cjhlhockey pic.twitter.com/wAGhEcALXG
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) May 19, 2022