Panthers youthful squad hits some bumps but see light at end of the tunnel

The Oceanside Generals arrived last Friday night.  The fans of the Peninsula Panthers arrived last Friday night.  The Peninsula Panthers players were missing in action!

Those three sentences pretty well sum up what took place at the Panorama Recreation Centre last Friday evening when the puck dropped at 7:30 pm.  The effort that came from the home squad was, to be brutally honest, brutal!  And when the final horn sounded, the Generals skated off with an 11-2 road win in what was clearly the worst effort from a Panthers group in several years.

"I'm not sure what happened," said Pete Zubersky.  "We started off well but things went south quickly.  It was a strange game.  At one point I looked at the clock late in the 2nd period and we were outshooting the Generals 18-16 but were down 7-1 where it really mattered.  Everything they shot found the back of the net and although our goaltenders would probably not consider the game as one of their better ones, I am not laying the blame on them.  We were terrible.  It actually makes it easy.  After a game like that you simply turn the page, it's not worth even talking about.

On Saturday night, the Panthers headed to Mill Bay to take on the Kerry Park Islanders and the effort was back.  The game was tight and with Panthers down 4-2 and with starter Liam Tutte on the bench for the extra attacker, the Club poured on the pressure and threw just about everything but the kitchen sink at Islanders goaltender Chase Anderson but could not light the lamp.  And with only seconds remaining, Islanders Kayden Peck picked up a loose puck and waltzed down the left side and scored into the vacated cage to ice the win.

"Our kids showed up as we expected they would," said Zubersky.  "We played hard and with a bounce here or there we could have come out on top.  We like where we are.  Yes, we have a ton of work to do with our kids but we will be getting some of our injured players back in the next several weeks and it is all going to come together.  Friday was a lesson we should all remember, it will help as we move forward."

The Panthers get right back at it this Friday evening when they host the visiting Westshore Wolves with the puck set to drop at 7:30 pm.  A good crowd is expected.