The Point Edward Jr. B Pacers home opener came up short after taking a 11 - 8 loss to the Wallaceburg Red Devils before a recorded crowd of 328 fans Sunday afternoon at the Point Edward Arena.

"We dug ourselves a hole by taking a bunch of dumb penalties." Head Coach Jim Bell said "We had a bunch of guys wire up and just going crazy out there."

Wallaceburg went five for nine on the power play, Point Edward went 3 for 10.

In the first period Wallaceburg went up  6 - 2 with three of the goals scored on the power play.  In the second the Red Devils went up 10 - 5 with two more goals scored on power plays.

Dan Charlton

"Second half in the second and the third period we showed more heart and stayed out of the box and when we play 5 on 5 we can beat that team hands down." Bell said

Third period saw the Pacers out score the Red Devils 3 - 1  but not enough to catch up.

"We told the kids before the game, if we score goals we win if they can't score goals they lose." Bell said I thought they buckled down defensively and made some massive stops.  However, any penalty 25 feet away from the play is a garbage penalty it's not preventing a goal it's stopping an opportunity.

#88 Connor Smith

Connor Smith led the Pacers in scoring with 5 goals,  Brandan Burr scored 2 and Blair McFarlane scored 1.  Captain Dan Charlton earned three points with 3 assists.

Jordan Durston and Mike Myers each earned 8 points for the Red Devils.  Durston scored 5 goals and 3 assists, Myers scored 3 with 5 assists.  Scoring singles were Ryan Noel, Evan Mathany and Hannibal Roda.

Jacob Nobel earned the win in net for the Red Devis with 46 saves, Ian Ferguson took the loss making 34 saves.

"5 on 5 we matched them handily." Bell said "They got two deadly players Jordan Durston and Mike Myers, two of the best players in the 26 team league. So defensively we were a little scattered off the bat because we are trying a new system.  I think they settled into it and our defence got a lot of good stops and gave the opportunity to the offence. We just got to learn a little bit more clock management and game management realizing to hold the ball 10 more seconds and we have the power in oppose to taking a shot."

Next up the Pacers are back at home on Wednesday April 30 when they host Windsor for an 8:00 pm start at the Point Edward arena.