Announcement
Toms River - The Panthers ended their four game losing streak with a vengeance on Friday night versus Toms River East, scoring nine goals in a 9-3 rout. Coming off a 4-2, hard fought loss to Rumson on Wednesday, the Boro needed a spark to turn the season around and got it. Led by Colin Freer's six point night (4 goals, 2 assists) The Panthers got their third win of the season and second versus a team in the higher ranked Shore Conference "C" division.
The first period started slowly for the Boro, but they managed to squeak out the first goal when Gage Klotz assisted on Freer's first of the game. However, even that didn't shake the Panthers out of their daze, and the Raiders scored four minutes later and took the lead less than three minutes after that on a power play. The Boro tied it when Evan Herrington buried one off another Gage Klotz assist, and with :12 seconds left on the clock, Freer popped in his second of the game to give the Panthers a lead they would not relinquish.The second period was all Boro as Herrington got his second and Freer completed the hat trick. East managed to cut the lead to 5-3 with 2:33 left in the period, but Carter Klotz scored his first high school goal just :31 seconds later when a rebound found his stick blade in the low slot with East goaltender Austin Kayser down from the initial shot, and he carefully wristed it into the open side of the net. Connor Bokop added another with :52.7 left before the intermission to make it a 7-3 Boro lead.
The Raiders came into the third period pressing hard and controlling the action for most of the first ten minutes, but Nate Bissey stopped all nine East shots in the period to quell the attack including a fantastic sprawling pad save to stop what looked initially like a sure Raider goal. When East's attack quieted a bit, the Boro went back to work to assure an end to the losing streak. Tom Santos scored with 5:44 left on the clock with a bad angle wrister that found an opening and Colin scored his fourth to close out the 9-3 road victory. The Panthers are now 3-6-0 and 1-2-0 in the division. They return home on Wednesday to take on the first place (8-1-0, 4-0-0 in division) Marlboro Mustangs. The Mustangs defeated the Panthers 5-0 in their last meeting at Gold Coast Arena. Puck drops at the Ocean Ice Palace at 4:00pm.
