Today’s game was born out of necessity for a new rink when another collapsed a few years ago and it was the big brother, Prince William Panthers, that came out victorious 9-1 over the Piedmont Predators at Verizon Center in front of approximately 150 family and friends before the Washington Capitals played the Boston Bruins in a pre-season game.

Now that the Predators actually have the older arena in the Haymarket Iceplex, and the Panthers are playing in the newest arena in the DC area, the Prince William Ice Center, allegiances have split, though the players in today’s game probably were never affected by the Ice Center’s previous collapse.

Even though the game meant nothing in the standings, there were still bragging rights to be had, and it was just 60 seconds into the game when Caleb Kerstetter started the Prince William Panthers on the prowl to those rights. Paul Allison assisted on the goal for his only point of the game.

A neutral zone faceoff in the second period

It would take another 4 ½ minutes for Colin Malloy to find the back of the net against Bella Gould to put the Panthers up 2-0 with the help of Matt Green. Green would score less than a minute later by slamming home a rebound to make it 3-0. Jake Green joined Malloy on the assist ledger.

Prince William would bump the lead to 4-0 midway through the period on Cody Purdham’s first unassisted tally of the game.

With Malloy in the penalty box for checking, Jimmy McManus found the back of the net for the Predators with 23 seconds remaining in the first period. The momentum wouldn’t carry over long into the second period.

The final score from Verizon Center.

Vicenzo Glittone score 1:34 into the second with help from Alex Montgomery. Glittone then helped on Kerstetter’s second of the game 3:01 later. Purdham’s second came 69 seconds later and the Panthers held a 7-1 lead. The Predators would try to control the puck for the rest of the period but were stymied by the Panther attack.

Jake Green scored unassisted midway through the third and Glittone added his second on a pass from Tyler Gordon with 1:51 left in the game.

Bella Gould and Ethan Roteman combined to face 30 shots on goal for Piedmont, while J. P. Kirkpatrick and Ryan Hinson combined to face 10 shots in the game.

Metro DC DJs & Entertainment Three Stars of the Game

3.  Jimmy McManus, Piedmont – Goal
2.  Cody Purdham, Prince William – 2 Goals
1.  Caleb Kerstetter, Prince William – 2 Goals