A happy group celebrate last Friday evening after Reece Costain blasted a slapshot in overtime to give the Club a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Saanich Braves (Photo by Gordon Lee)
Kaelan LaBlanc is the latest player to be added to a Peninsula Panthers roster that has been overhauled in the past month. The 20-year-old netminder will be in the lineup on Thursday evening in Nanaimo against the Bucs.
20-year-old Kaelan LaBlanc will be getting on the Peninsula Panthers bus on Thursday afternoon as it departs for the Hub City where the Club is scheduled to face-off against the Nanaimo Buccaneers. LaBlanc played Junior "A" in Ontario last season however, was available and sitting at home in Richmond when he received a call from the Panthers Organization.
"Kaelan practiced with us a couple weeks ago and also went out with the University of Victoria Hockey Club at the same time," said Panthers Pete Zubersky. "I liked what I saw in the goaltender but we had a logjam at the position, especially with the addition of Alex Olson. But our 19-year-old Jacob Krupp suffered a knee injury and has been out for a week and at this point we are just not sure when he will be at 100%. The situation has opened up an opportunity for Kaelan to jump into the lineup and get his feet wet. Olson will get the start in Nanaimo against the Bucs and will be back between the pipes on Friday night at home against the Campbell River Storm. I plan on using LaBlanc back in Campbell River on Sunday, all things being equal. I think he is excited about the opportunity and I hope he runs with the ball when it's handed to him."
The puck will drop on Friday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre at 7:30 pm when the Storm blow into town. The Storm lead the Northern Division of the VIJHL and are arguably one of the top Junior B Clubs in the Province. The Panthers have split two games thus far with the Storm and this will be their final regular season visit to the Peninsula.
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