Several things were significant in the Peninsula Panthers 4-3 loss to the Victoria Cougars on Monday night in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre. In several of the VIJHL playoff series the final and deciding games have been blowouts but although the Panthers season would come to an end at the end of the evening, a young squad played right to the final buzzer and in the process gave the Cougars everything they could handle. The Cougars swept the best-of-7 series in four straight games however had their hands full in three of the contests, games that with just a bit of puck luck might have gone in the other direction.
The youthful squad became even younger in this series as they dressed 16-year-old defenceman Tyler Pang and 15-year-old defenceman Shota Yamamoto, both affiliated players from the Victoria Major Midget Royals squad. Pang played in all four games in all situations while Yamamoto played significant minutes in his debut in the playoffs.
(Pictured below, #15, Panthers 15-year-old Shota Yamamoto hammers Cougars #11, 19-year-old Cody Hodges into the wall between the players benches in playoff action Monday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre)
"We had lost a couple of our defencemen in the series," said Pete Zubersky. "17-year-old Braeden Hansen had a cracked rib and 18-year-old Mitch Moloney separated his shoulder and so we called up the two youngsters to bolster the back end. I laughed to myself a couple times in the game. Pang started the game and with under three minutes left Yamamota was still getting a shift and playing his heart out. That's what we are known for. We play the young kids no matter the situation. Our program is known for this and we are not afraid to use the youngsters even in a game like this. These kids really responded and it was awesome to watch."
The Panthers opened the scoring at the 10:17 mark of the first frame when 17-year-old Ben Dawson converted a goal-mouth pass from Grayden Hohl to give the Panthers the 1-0 lead after beating Cougars starter Anthony Ciurro while on the power play. It held up into the first intermission as Panthers starter between the pipes, 16-year-old Shawn Parkinson made several key saves.
The Cougars evened the game on a power play of their own at the 16:41 mark on a goal by 20-year-old Ryan Carson. The lead would be short lived. At the 17:30 mark Justin Post who was playing in his final game in Junior scored with helpers on the play going to 17-year-old Cam Thompson and Spencer Loverock. And Dawson would strike only 16 seconds later to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead with Josh Poland and Hohl picking up assists on the play. But the scoring was not yet complete in the middle stanza when at the 18:57 mark Jordan Passmore would slip a shot past Parkinson. The two teams went to the dressing rooms with the Panthers clinging to a 3-2 lead with 40 minutes in the books.
In the final frame the Cougars struck for two goals on markers from Austin Wilk and Nico Somerville to take a 4-3 lead. The Panthers pressed and pulled Parkinson in the final minute however it was all for naught. The final buzzer sounded and with it ended the 2015/16 season for the "Cats" from the Peninsula. The two Clubs congratulated each other and it set the stage for a showdown between the VIJHL's top two squads in the Regular Season, the Campbell River Storm and the Victoria Cougars.
Head Coach Rob Mortin addressed his troops in the dressing room after the game. "I am so proud of this group," explained Mortin. "We worked our tails off all season long and we have come such a long way. We will loose four 20-year-olds and probably another two or three to Junior A but we have a strong group coming back and we all wish that the year could start right now. We have our Camp in April and we are looking to add some quality youngsters to the Club. We feel we are well situated to have a great season starting in September."
Loverock, Drayson Lum, Post and Ty Tremblay are four 20-year-olds who will be moving on from their Junior Careers. For Tremblay the end came a couple weeks ago when he had to leave to attend school in Vancouver to complete his apprenticeship. "These kids have been great for our Organization," said Zubersky. "There were a couple of former Panthers down in the dressing room at the end of the game, Grayson Vickers and Kyle Richardson and I love when kids remember where they came from. I am sure that all four of these guys will be the same. I tip my hat to them, they all lead in their own way and they will always be welcome here. They are part of our family."
(Panthers #25 Cam Thompson looks to make something happen offensively in 2nd period action while #7 Spencer Loverock looks poised to gather in any loose pucks. Thompson was the VIJHL Rookie of the Year. The last Rookie of the Year for the Panthers was in the 2005/06 season when Jamie Benn captured the award and went on to win Olympic Gold and Captain the Dallas Stars.)
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