The Pelham Panthers took down the Caledon Bombers with a 3-0 shutout win on Sunday in Pelham. The matchup was the first regular season game between clubs as conference rivals following the league’s realignment this summer; however, it may have seemed to most in attendance the two were longtime rivals. The game was a notably physical contest, containing a combined 81 penalty minutes and 7 misconducts. With the hard fought win, the Panthers improve to 3-8-3-0 while the Bombers drop to 1-13-0-0.
After a slow opening few minutes for the Panthers, in which goaltender Logan Snyder had to make a few key saves to keep the game tied, Cooper Drennan opened the scoring with a power play marker at 11:03. In the second period, Colton Woods threw a sharp angle backhand shot at the net that managed to find its way through the pads of Caledon keeper Nolan Godfrey to make it 2-0 Panthers. Throughout the contest, the Panthers managed to draw the ire of the visitors with their tough checking and hard nose physical play. Perhaps, the most prominent example of this came during a 5 minute penalty kill for the Panthers in which Ryan Wercholaz lined up Luca Morra with a hard hit along the sideboards. The tough but clean hit prompted Morra to take a frustration cross-checking penalty, negating 2 minutes out of the 5 minute advantage for Caledon. Tempers continued to flare early in the third when Panthers defenceman Brandon Petrova and Bombers forward Titus Mok squared off for a tilt at 4:53 of the third. Later in the period, the Panthers were forced to kill off a two minute 5 on 3. Late in the third, Colton Woods buried the puck for his second of the night and the team’s second power play goal of the night at 17:10 to emphatically seal the victory. In the final 2:50, the Panthers held off the Bombers to secure a 39 save shutout for Snyder, the first of his Junior career and the Panthers first of the season.
The Panthers will look to continue their success as they travel to St. Thomas to face the Stars Friday night at 7:30 at the Joe Thornton Community Centre. The Panthers return home next Sunday afternoon to take on the Komoka Kings. Puck drop is at 2:45 pm at the Accipiter Arena inside the Meridian Community Centre.
