Port Hope Panthers Win First Game of PJHL Season
By Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland
The Port Hope Panthers scored five goals in the second period en route to earning their first win of the Provincial Junior Hockey League season Saturday night.
Cole Papageorgiou netted two goals as six different players scored for the Panthers in the 7-1 victory over the Frankford Huskies at the Jack Burger Sports Complex in Port Hope.
Drew Clapperton tallied the lone goal of the first period in the 15th minute and Nolan Stevenson scored 3:12 into the second on a Port Hope power play to give his club a two-goal advantage.
Frankford answered back 39 seconds later with Garrett Bird’s first goal of the season. That cut the deficit to 2-1 for a short time before the Panthers took control. Papageorgiou scored his first of two at 6:28 followed by a Logan Kelly marker at 13:23 and Carter Clarke found the back of the net for the first time this season at 16:08.
Clarke also earned two assists in the contest, including on Papageorgiou’s shorthanded goal with 27 seconds left in the second period, for a three-point night.
In the third, Camden Stickney rounded out the scoring for Port Hope in the final minute of regulation time.
Goaltender Aidan Thomson earned the victory in net for the Panthers, now 1-3-0-0.
Port Hope was coming off a 5-0 loss Friday night in Napanee against the undefeated Raiders (5-0-0-0). The expansion Huskies remain winless through five games.
Next up for the Panthers is a Wednesday night home game against the Campbellford Rebels (1-3-0-0), which were defeated 6-4 by the Amherstview Jets on Saturday. The Rebels have lost three straight games since a season-opening win in Port Hope.
Game time Wednesday between the Panthers and Rebels is 7:30 p.m. at the Jack Burger Sports Complex.
