Log-jam for 2nd place after Panthers upended by Islanders

It was a disappointed group of Peninsula Panthers that slowly filtered from the arena in Mill Bay shortly after 10:00 pm on Saturday night.  They had just been dispatched by the Kerry Park Islanders by a 4-1 count, the total included an empty net goal with 59 seconds left in the 3rd frame scored by the Islanders Graham Winship.  It was a game that was probably was there for the taking, a game that had huge implications in the South Division standings of the VIJHL. 

Both squads went back and forth in the early going and it was clear that both knew the importance of the contest.  The Panthers had dropped the Islanders three nights earlier in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre, their 4th straight win over the Islanders at home.  The Islanders were a confident group going into Saturday night as they too had held serve on home court, winning all three previous contests in Mill Bay.  The game turned at the 12:01 mark of the opening stanza when "Cats" Trevor Owens was sent to the sin bin on a hooking infraction.  And he was followed there by Garnett Roberts who took two minutes for tripping.  At the 13:42 mark and with the two-man advantage Islanders Tait Aptakin gathered in a puck to the right of Panthers goaltender Alex Olson and wristed a sharp angle shot that somehow found the back of the net to draw first blood.  At the 15:50 mark Islanders Kyle Green extended the lead to 2-0 when the drifted in to the left of Olson and beat the netminder with a wrist shot.  The Panthers responded and had several great scoring opportunities however Islanders stopper Chase Anderson had other ideas and was as tight as the cork on a wine bottle.

The Islanders Tanner Tiel was the only marksman in the 2nd period when at the 8:42 mark he gathered in the puck to the right of Olson.  He fired a shot from almost an impossible angle and it somehow managed to squirt in, his first goal in Junior Hockey.  Olson was lifted in favour of Shawn Parkinson.

The Panthers dominated the game from this point and allowed the Islanders only 4 more shots, one of them coming on the Winship tally into the empty net.  They went on the attack in the final stanza and were finally awarded at the 1:04 mark.  Roberts gathered in the puck at the left point and blasted a shot on Anderson.  Anderson failed to corral the rebound and it was Marty Westhaver who would be in the right place at the right time to jam home the rebound.

Anderson stopped 31 of 32 Panthers attempts while Olson was good on 15 of 18 shots.  Parkinson blocked all 3 attempts that he faced in 30:43 minutes of playing time after coming in for Olson.

With the result the Panthers, Islanders and Westshore Wolves are all deadlocked in 2nd place with 35 points.  The Panthers head to Esquimalt on Thursday to face the Victoria Cougars and will be back at home next Friday night when the face the Wolves in what looks to be another huge game.  The puck drops at 7:30 pm.