Having earned their fourth victory of the season in the previous game, the Sewickley Academy Panthers Varsity Ice Hockey team travelled to the Ice Castle ice rink on December 19, 2016 seeking to earn their fifth win of the season in a rematch against the Baldwin Highlanders, who were 4-1 winners in their first meeting.

In a fast paced 1^st Period, the Panthers couldn’t capitalize on the limited scoring chances they generated against a stingy defense, but the Panther defense was able to weather an early Baldwin offensive onslaught and held the quick skating, aggressive Highlanders to just one goal in the 1^st Period.     

Baldwin made the Panthers pay for a slashing penalty at 12:36 of the 2^nd Period, taking a 2-0 lead on a power play goal.  The Panthers would repay the favor with less than a minute left in the period, when sophomore winger Jack Duggan scored an unassisted power play goal to cut the Highlander lead to 2-1 and give the Panthers a much needed boost.

The 3^rd Period saw Sewickley Academy start the period behind by a goal, but undaunted by the deficit, the Panthers rose to the occasion and competed with a level of determination and tenacity that had been unmatched all season long.  Their perseverance paid off when sophomore center Matthew Hajdukiewicz (assisted by senior Ryan Gex) knotted the game at two on a wrist shot that found the back of the net short side top shelf.  With the game tied at two apiece, the Panthers defensive corps limited the number of Baldwin scoring chances down the stretch and drew an important penalty with just 1:05 left in the period.  Despite the man advantage for the Panthers, the 3^rd Period would end 2-2 and go into a 5-minute sudden death overtime.

The Panthers started the overtime period with the man advantage and would make the Highlanders pay for the second time in the game just 54 seconds into the period with a power play OT game winning goal by Jack Duggan off of assists from senior defenseman Joe Straka and center Matthew Hajdukiewicz to secure the Panthers fifth victory of the season and improve to .500 on the season.

What can only be described as the best team effort of the year, the Panthers received contributions from each and every player in a hard won victory.  Led by the unwavering play of junior goaltender Cole Luther (stopped 39 of the 41 shots he faced), the defensive unit of Joe Straka, sophomores Tommy Gordon, Henry Meakem, and Jackson Paul, and freshman Chris Martian outplayed a Division leading Highlander defense that had allowed just 24 goals in their previous 9 games.  Good puck movement and solid support from the forwards resulted in the best breakouts and defensive zone play of the season.

 

Areas for improvement:

  1.       Reducing the number of shots our goaltender face
  2.       Continue to improve defensive zone coverage
  3.       Continue to improve the breakout

Go Panthers!