Panthers continue to tinker with roster with additions and subtractions

The roster of the Peninsula Panthers continued to be overhauled this week as the Club made several moves to bolster the existing group.  On Wednesday afternoon the Club added '96 Goaltender Alex Olson and he jumped in between the pipes against the Saanich Braves on Wednesday evening.  Although the young netminder stopped 22 of 23 attempts, he was on the wrong end of a 1-0 score when the game ended.  Olson had not played a hockey game in over a year when he was with the Oceanside Generals.  He suffered a rotator cuff injury early last season and was released by the Generals at that time.  Olson was carded by a Langley Junior Club in the summer, a team that was to be part of a new Junior "A" outlaw league however, just prior to the season things went wrong and the league suddenly folded leaving him with nowhere to play.

"We are pleased to add Alex," explained Pete Zubersky.  "He certainly never quit on himself and continued to battle to find ice and coaching although he was not associated to any Club.  The kid has seen his fair share of adversity and has come through to the other side.  It says alot about his character and we are happy to add him to our group."

In a corresponding move the Panthers announced that Will Harvey has been given his outright release.  "We had an issue or two and we thought that it was best if Will had a fresh start with another Organization," said Zubersky.  "I did not want to hold him up waiting for a trade and decided to give him an outright release so he can work at landing somewhere right away.  His play picked up a lot as of late and I believe he can help another Organization, maybe a bit closer to home.  We certainly wish him the best of luck in the future and thank him for his time with our Club."

And on Friday afternoon the Club added a scorer that they are certainly in need of, a familiar face at that - 18-year-old Nathan Looysen who played for the Club as a 16-year-old before moving on to the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League last season.  "Nathan was in the plans of the management in Kamloops however, there was a coaching change and with that came changes to the roster," explained Zubersky.  "Nathan was caught up in this situation and is back with our Club for the time being.  I know that he would like to get back into the BCHL and I'm sure that when he puts up some numbers on the scoreboard, an opportunity will jump out at him.  In the meantime our group needs some scoring and that is something that Nathan knows how to do.  He will be in the lineup this evening against the Braves and I think he will have a lot of fun as he has many close friends on our squad."

The Panthers hit the ice at 7:30 pm tonight at the Panorama Recreation Centre.