The Embrun Panthers welcomed the Winchester Hawks to the Palais des Sports on Fri., Dec. 6, in the CCHL2. The Panthers forward, Riley Carisse (83) slides a short pass to his teammate, Juno Gregoire (44), who just misses as the Hawks’ goalie, Cole Defazio shut the door. Carisse and the Panthers came away with a 3-1 victory. Moore photo

RICHMOND—The Embrun Panthers played a pair of games this past weekend as they welcomed the Winchester Hawks on Friday night and travelled to Richmond on Sunday afternoon to take on the Royals. 

Royals 5 Panthers 2

The Embrun Panthers travelled to the Richmond Arena on Sun., Dec. 8, to take on the Royals in the CCHL2. The Panthers sat one point behind the first place Ottawa West Golden Knights in the Martin Division and with a win, they would move into sole possession of first place for their second consecutive week. 

The two teams battled to a scoreless first period with the Royals outshooting the Panthers 17-8. The Royals opened the scoring at 3:40 of the second period and took a two-goal lead at 10:46. The Royals took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission. 

The Panthers cut the deficit in half when affiliated player James Taylor scored his first CCHL2 goal from Tyler Cummins on the power play at 8:53 in the third period. The Royals were having none of it, scoring three consecutive goals at 9:28, 10:05, and 15:12 on the power play, taking a 5-1 lead. 

The Panthers added a late goal with just 1:17 remaining as Tristan Taillefer scored his 21st of the season from Robert Beaudoin but it was too late as the Royals upset the Panthers 5-2. With the loss, the Panthers remain in second place. 

The Royals outshot the Panthers 44-43. Suffering the loss in the Panthers’ goal was Marco Latassa making 29 saves.

Panthers 3 Hawks 1

The Embrun Panthers welcomed the Winchester Hawks to the Palais des Sports on Fri., Dec. 6, in the CCHL2. The Panthers began the week in first place in the Martin Division but were passed by the Ottawa West Golden Knights and the Casselman Vikings but with a win, they would move back into a first-place tie. 

The Panthers wasted little time hitting the score sheet, scoring just eight seconds into the first period as Tristan Taillefer fired home his 20th goal of the season from John Mahoney and Eric Skyba taking a 1-0 lead. 

The Panthers dominated the first period, outshooting the Hawks 13-5 but took just a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. 

The Panthers took a two-goal lead when Nathan Brown roofed his third of the season from Maverick Labrie and Carter Peck on the power play at 8:58 of the second period. The Panthers took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission. 

The Hawks finally got on the scoreboard, when Colby Schroeder scored his second of the campaign from Danny Johnson and Kyle Fleming just 1:08 into the third period. 

The Hawks dominated the third period but were unable to score the equalizer; so with just under a minute to play in regulation, they pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker. That backfired as the Panthers’ Cayden Martin found the abandoned cage at the far end for his third of the season from Mahoney with just 36 seconds remaining. 

The Panthers took the game 3-1 and moved into sole possession of second place. The Panthers outshot the Hawks 35-28. Picking up the victory in the Panthers’ goal was William Nguyen making 27 saves and suffering the loss in the Hawks’ goal was Cole Defazio making 32 saves.

Up next

The Embrun Panthers travel to the Ma-te-Way Activity Centre in Renfrew to take on the Timberwolves on Fri., Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. and to the Brockville Memorial Centre on Wed., Dec. 18 at 7:45 p.m.