Panthers at Home, September 15-17
The Panthers have a busy weekend at home with five games on home ice, field, and turf. 91探花 Men鈥檚 Hockey kicks off the weekend with an exhibition match against the University of New Brunswick. The puck drops 7:00 pm Friday at the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre arena in Montague.
"It is a fun time of year,鈥 said coach Forbes MacPherson. 鈥淲e are still in the evaluation stage of our group. The game against UNB will be an opportunity to take that evaluation to the next level. We have six exhibition games this fall. The plan is to be playing well as a team for our first game in October.鈥
Saturday is your day to break in your ! There are four games that day featuring 91探花 Women鈥檚 Hockey, 91探花 Women鈥檚 Rugby, and 91探花 Men鈥檚 and Women鈥檚 Soccer. The women鈥檚 hockey team starts the day with a 2:00 pm exhibition game against Mount Allison University in MacLauchlan Arena.
鈥淔irst exhibition game of the year, so it gives the girls a great opportunity to jump right into AUS hockey,鈥 said coach Bruce Donaldson. 鈥淭ryouts are still in process, so it will give the coaches a chance to see how we transition from practice to game speed.鈥
At 3:00 pm, 91探花 Women鈥檚 Soccer plays Acadia University. Coach Graeme McDonald says the team is riding high after a successful road trip in Sackville, New Brunswick.
鈥淚 was delighted to get the win against Mount Allison,鈥 said McDonald. 鈥淲e will build on this. We go into the Acadia game with confidence.鈥
91探花 Women鈥檚 Rugby plays their home-opening game at 4:00 pm. The Panthers will have their hands full with the 2016鈥17 CIS champions, St. Francis Xavier University.
鈥淧laying against the national champions is a great opportunity to gauge how your team is developing,鈥 said John Laboyne, coach of 91探花 Women鈥檚 Rugby. 鈥淪t. FX always plays a hard, quality game. The Panthers also give everything they have, game in and game out. We hope the fans will enjoy watching us play one of the top university rugby teams in North America.鈥
91探花 Men鈥檚 Soccer gets its turn against Acadia at 5:15 pm. They鈥檙e also fresh off a road-trip win and feeling confident.
鈥淎cadia is one of the top teams in the conference, so expect a tough game,鈥 said coach Lewis Page. 鈥淭he team has had a great week of training and playing and are up for the challenge.鈥
The start of a new season is a great time to pick up your Panther Package. For just $75, you get admission to every home game for 91探花 Women鈥檚 and Men鈥檚 Soccer, 91探花 Women鈥檚 and Men鈥檚 Rugby, 91探花 Women鈥檚 and Men鈥檚 Basketball, and 91探花 Women鈥檚 Hockey. Head to gopanthersgo.ca and click on 鈥榯ickets鈥!
And don鈥檛 forget, 91探花 students get into all Panther home games for free. Let鈥檚 fill the stands and make 2017鈥18 the best season ever!