Wildcats rally past Panthers to begin U13 provincials play

THUNDER BAY – The Whitby Wildcats answered back from an early two-goal deficit to go on and defeat the Sun County Panthers 5-3 Wednesday in Day 1 action at the 2023 All-Ontario under-13 AAA championship, presented by BioSteel, at the Fort William Gardens.

Sun County needed less than two minutes to open the scoring, as Matthew Taylor connected at 1:22.

The Panthers then went up by a pair past the midway point of the first period compliments of Gianluca McClure.

Beginning their comeback, Whitby’s Ryder Nobes struck shorthanded with 52 seconds left in the frame.

It was more from Nobes early in the middle stanza as he notched the equalizer for his second of the contest.

Going back on top at 10:42, McClure added another for Sunday County to put them up 3-2 heading into intermission.

All business in the third, Whitby supplied a trio of tallies to complete the come from behind victory.

Michael Jeffrey made it 3-3 at 1:49, before Liam Morgan picked up the eventual game-winner with five and a half minutes remaining.

The Wildcats’ Shea Huinink iced it in the final seconds to cap off the scoring.

Whitby made the most of their opportunities after getting outshot 46-21 in the contest, with their goaltender, Lukas Butler, making 43 saves while earning his club’s player of the game honours.

McClure got the POG nod for the Panthers.

Photo credit: James Mirabelli