A late surge fell a little short in the Estevan midget AA Power Tech Panthers 6-4 loss to the Weyburn Drillers at Affinity Place on Sunday.
The Panthers (1-1) controlled the play for the majority of the third period and held a 29-24 shot clock advantage at the end, but an unsuccessful power play near the end of the frame stopped their attempt. Estevan found themselves in need of the comeback after falling behind 5-1 to the Drillers (2-1) after the first 40 minutes.
Trevor Morrison, head coach of the Panthers, said a tough 10-minute stretch in the second period is where they lost the game. He added that a positive to take out of the loss is they did generate a lot of scoring chances and shots on net.
“We could have had a few more shots where we were looking instead of just throwing them on net,” said Morrison. “We just had a couple bad unfortunate bounces go against us, but overall we played pretty good. We just had a bad 10-minute stretch there where they got some goals on us. It was the difference in the game.”
Morrison said the Panthers have a short bench this season with only 13 players on the roster and only two of the girls are veteran players, but all have talent to spare.
The work right now for the girls is getting to know each other's tendencies on the ice and learn how to play together as a team. Morrison said they'll play a puck possession style of hockey and try to stay out of the penalty box considering their small roster.
“We have a well balanced team,” he said. “We have no weak pieces. All of our girls can skate and it's just a matter of getting them all to gel now. We could use a couple more skaters, but we don't have them. So we'll have to learn to play some disciplined hockey when we get tired and work as a unit.”
