The Panthers were back in action today on Kohn field after a long week of preparation for the Lord Jeffs.  With the Williams game being postponed due to inclement weather on Wednesday the guys were anxious to get back on the field and get back to playing the way we are capable of. 

The story of the game today was the patience displayed by our offense.  Amherst has been playing exclusively zone defense all season and planned to do so again today.  Our goal going into the game was to possess the ball, make their defense work and take the shots we wanted as opposed to the shots they were willing to give up.  We accomplished that goal and by midway through the second quarter they had gotten out of their zone and were playing man to man. 

The game ball was awarded to sophomore Skyler Hopkins (McDonogh, MD) who was 4,1 on the day with a few nice goals sneaking from behind the cage.  Pete Mellen was excellent facing off today and finished with a goal and 4 assists.  We finished the game with 59 shots on goal which is the most we've had all season and were able to get some of our younger guys in for the 4th quarter which hasn't happened all season.

A new addition to the offense today was Mickey Gilchrist who finished with a goal and 2 assists.   Mickey was late in joining the team as he had to finish his duties serving as captain of the hockey team as a junior.  Mickey has been their leading scorer for the past 2 seasons and has given us a nice spark in practice as well as in the game today.  Mickey has a knack for being around the ball and for making plays, expect to see a lot more out of him before the year is over.

Finally, on the defensive end it was good to have James Guay back today who was faced with the tough assignment of playing Amherst's best player Derek Cherney.  Alex Palmisano had a solid day in the cage and when Pete Britt came into the game to replace Alex he had some nice stops to secure the win. 

We'll be back in action on Tuesday against Renselaer who has started off the season 9-0.