Panthers make West Ferris playoff history

The North Bay Guardian Panthers made history last Thursday night when they won their Atom tier 2 playoff game 4-2 against East Side Mario’s.

According to the girl’s association, this win marked the first time ever that a girl’s team has ever won a gold medal in any West Ferris final, in any division.

Before the game, the Panthers knew that they had the chance to do what no girl team has ever done before but may not realize the impact it may have on girl’s hockey in North Bay. With this win, we hope to show every girl that they can not only play hockey against the boys but also win and have the same passion for Canada’s game.

The Panthers started the playoffs very strong with a 5-2 win over East Side Mario’s and finished the round robin in 1st place with a 3-1 record and a bye to the finals.

In the finals, the girls were behind 2-1 entering the 3rd period but never gave up hope and faith. After a big save by the Panthers’ netminder, the girls rallied to score 3 goals to win the game 4-2. When the final buzzer went off, the girls went wild because they knew North Bay hockey history was made.

It was a banner year for the Panthers as they took gold in the North Bay tournament in November and gold again in Nepean in February. Their record in tournaments/playoffs was an outstanding 15-2-2 with a goals against average of well below 2. The Panthers accomplished all this with hard work, passion and most of all, lots of fun.

We hope our win will inspire girls to join hockey no matter what association and have fun and know that girls can play hockey and keep up with the boys.

The champion North Bay Guardian Panthers include Morgan Vesterback, Alysha Belec, Brittany Jenkins, Stephanie Lalonde, Emily Currie, Jessica Giroux, Bree Modeen, Jenna Humphries, Amber Mathias, Miranda Desbiens, Cristina Brownlee, Brigitte Kelly, Meegwyn Alisappi and Isabella Belanger.

Submitted to BayToday.ca