Friday will be a very special night, Capacity crowd is expected!

In what is shaping up to be a game for quite a number of marbles on the table, the Peninsula Panthers will welcome in the Westshore Wolves this coming Friday night.  The two Clubs will play at the Q-Centre on Wednesday evening and will then go head-to-head once again in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre on Friday.  And that is only the start.  Off-ice activities will also be a highlight of the evening all night long.

The Wolves played the Kerry Park Islanders on Saturday night and after after a 4-1 Westshore win, they sit in 2nd spot, two points up on the Panthers.  Both Clubs have three games remaining in a VIJHL South Division that has never been this close in over 50 years. Kerry Park remains tied with the Panthers in 3rd and although they have four games remaining in their schedule, two are against the Victoria Cougars who currently lead the League.

Off-ice the action will be just as hot and heavy.  The Panthers have tabbed the evening as "Peninsula Minor Hockey Association and Fan Appreciation Night" and a specially designed 3rd jersey is waiting to be cracked open. 

"We have done this game for many years and it is my favourite game of the season," said owner Pete Zubersky.  The jerseys this time around are the best the Club has ever designed and are a tribute to the Kraft Hockeyville game which was held locally this past September 21st between the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks.  The front of the jersey boasts the familiar Peninsula Panthers logo however, the colours are the dark version of the Canucks.  The back of the jersey are the dark colours of the Sharks.  On one shoulder is the logo of the PMHA Eagles while the other shoulder has a Hockeyville Trophy.

The Panthers will gift the jerseys to PMHA players on ice after the game in a random draw.  But the Club will have several more jerseys so that fans in attendance can win as well.  "We have had quite a number of fans in years gone by show disappointment that they could not win a jersey and so we decided to make some of them available.  One long-time fan has a young son who does not play Minor Hockey and so he too has a chance to walk away a winner," said Zubersky.

But there is more!  Brad Peden, owner of Peden RV Superstore on the Peninsula, sponsors the appreciation game and again has donated the use of a trailer for a week sometime this coming Spring or Summer for a lucky winner.  The trailer will be on ice after the game and the winner will be drawn right after the jersey draw has been completed.

But there is more!  After the first period, a very, very special presentation will be made on ice which promises to not leave a dry eye in the house.  "We really don't want to give away any of the details at this point," explained Zubersky.  "Safe to say that we have done quite a number of presentations over the life of the Hockey Club and this one ranks up there with any of them.  The person does not know it will happen but I know that it will be a shock and thrilling.  We really want to have a packed house for the game, there is just so much happening and all of it is so absolutely positive.  In my mind, Friday night both on and off the ice, is truly what Junior Hockey should be about.  Such an important game and such a positive environment with the activities planned."

All winners MUST BE PRESENT at the time of the draw to win with no exceptions!  The Puck drops at 7:30 pm and a capacity crowd is expected.   The Panthers are urging fans to arrive early.