LITTLE CURRENT—The Manitoulin Lady Panthers Under 18 midget team has qualified for the provincial playdowns!
With their 3-0 shutout victory in game two of a best two out of three game series with the U18 North Bay Jr. Lakers last Wednesday at the NEMI Recreation Centre, the Panthers advanced to the provincials.
“The stands were filled with family and friends for a game that meant a lot, as the win sent the Lady Panthers to provincials for the second straight year,” said Panthers coach Ryan Prior. “For the girls it is nice to have this (fan) support.”
In game two goalie Ciera Sokoloski posted the shutout, with the Panthers goals coming off the sticks of Zee Toulouse, Ava Corbiere and Hara Dube, said Mr. Prior. The Panthers and the Lakers had squared off for game one in North Bay on February 12, with the Panthers winning by a final score of 2-0. Panthers goalie Brynn Best secured the shutout with Charmaine Webkamigad opening the scoring in the first period, followed by a goal from Carlynn Simon.
Mr. Prior explained that game two was, “Not only a big game for the girls to win, it was also the last time that four young ladies would play on home ice in front of friends and family as they are aging out at the end of the year and their minor league hockey days will be behind them.” The Lady Panther girls honoured Hara Dube, Hope Eshkibok Tessa McGillis-Prior and Zee Toulouse before the game with flowers and a few gifts.
“Our team and North Bay are the only B division teams in the area,” said Mr. Prior and that is why they faced off to see who would qualify for the provincials. “North Bay played in the southern Ontario loop this season, so these games were the first we have played against them this season. Our team played its regular season games against teams from Temiskaming, Timmins, Kapuskasing and Sault Ste. Marie.”
“The girls record for the year was 7-8-2 for their regular season, with all the games being part of super weekends where they travelled to Kapuskasing and Timmins,” continued Mr. Prior. “They had their very first home ice super weekend that was a big success for our girls. They travelled to Temiskaming for a couple league games and had a couple of exhibition games thrown in as well against the Sudbury BB team. The teams in the Northern loop that the ladies played in included Soo Greyhounds BB, Timmins Falcons A, Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds BB and the Kapuskasing Jaguars B team.”
The Panthers are now gearing up to head to Sault Ste. Marie for a tournament on February 28 where they will face the Soo Greyhounds, Thunder Bay Fury’s, Timmins Falcons and Traverse City North Stars, then they have a bit of a break before heading to Vaughan for the Leaside Canlan Tournament on March 21 which will be a good warm up for the ladies before hitting the ice for the 2025 provincials being held in Markham starting April 11.
The Lady Panthers would like to give a big thank you to Scott Stevens and Krista McNeil. “Without the help of these two individuals at the start of the season the team and the season for the girls would never have happened as they worked tirelessly to get everything in place in a short amount of time,” said Mr. Prior.
The 2024-2025 Manitoulin Lady Panthers team consists of players Ava Corbiere, Brinley Watson, Brynn Best, Carlynn Simon, Charmaine Webkamigad, Ciera Sokoloski, Emery Watson, Hope Eshkibok, Kara Atchtawens, Kayla Lockeyer, Lourdes Taukei, Megan Roszell, Niomi Tomaselli, Payton Kaboni, Tessa McGillis-Prior, Z Toulouse, Zahara Dube. Head coach is Ryan Prior along with assistant coaches Clayton Best and Jamie Peltier, trainers Julie Roszell, Hailey McGillis-Prior and manager Jayme Watson.
