X-Men, Panthers hook up again in playoffs

Courtesy Glenn MacDonald, The Chronicle Herald

If familiarity breeds contempt, there’ll be lots of animosity between the St. Francis Xavier X-Men and UPEI Panthers.

The two AUS men’s hockey teams faced each other twice in the final week of the regular season and will meet again in the best-of-three quarter-finals, which begin tonight in Charlottetown.

"We seemed to be playing them a lot in the last little bit," St. F.X. winger Bryce Swan said. "You get a hate on for them and hopefully that carries out onto the ice. It makes us jacked up a little more.

"All of our games have been close this year. We’re two well-matched teams and pretty even. It should be a great series."

The X-Men had a lock on fourth place in the conference standings until they lost their final five regular-season games, including two in a shootout.

St. F.X. finished fifth while UPEI took the fourth spot.

"We’re disappointed with our finish down the stretch and how we let home ice slip away," said Swan, who finished third in the AUS goal-scoring race with 20 goals this season to go along with 11 assists.

"We’re comfortable with ourselves though. We’re ready to take on whoever comes our way. I don’t think a lot of people are giving us a chance. They think we’re too young. We have a quiet confidence and I think we’ll do some damage."

Among those five losses was a 4-2 setback to the Panthers on Feb. 6 in a crucial four-point game. At the time, St. F.X. trailed UPEI by two points. But the Panthers essentially secured fourth place and home ice advantage in the quarter-finals with the victory.

UPEI also beat St. F.X. 6-5 in a shootout in the regular season finale on Saturday but the playoff seedings had already been determined by then.

Swan said losing home ice might not be a disadvantage for his squad.

"Home ice definitely is a big thing; you want to be comfortable in your settings," Swan said. "But when you’re on the road, you have zero distractions. We have to take that into account. We just have to show up and play hockey. We’ll use that to our advantage."

The Panthers, who placed third in the conference in team scoring, were led by rookies Chad Locke (36 points) and Jared Gomes (33) along with sophomore Matthew Carter (33) and veteran Cory Vitarelli, who collected 13 goals and 19 points in only 19 games.

They won seven consecutive games to close the regular season.

Game 2 of the series is Friday night in Antigonish. If necessary, the rubber match would be Sunday afternoon at UPEI.