Panthers give Generals marching orders, prepare to host Wolves Monday night.

It was a game that the Peninsula Panthers needed badly if they have any hopes of catching the Oceanside Generals for home advantage in the Wild Card Game set for February 20th.  And although the contest was of the utmost importance, the Club was also mindful of the importance they put on the development of young players.  And with both thoughts in mind, the starting forwards were all affiliated players called up from the Peninsula Midget AA squad.  Fifteen-year-old Riley Braun and 16-year-olds Josh Lingard and Tanner Wort not only started but played a prominent role in a decisive 4-1 win on a clear and cool winter Friday night on the Peninsula.  And starters on the back end for the Panthers were rookies 16-year-old Shota Yamamoto and "Grey Bearded" 17-year-old Thomas Spink.

"We discussed who our starting lineup would be and we decided that we wanted to go with our young kids to inject some excitement into the game right off the bat," explained General Manager Pete Zubersky.  "These three kids can flat out play and have practiced with us all year long.  We are not afraid to use them under any circumstances and tonight showed that.  I loved their effort and energy this evening and they pulled on the rope just like every other kid on the bench did.  It's always fun to watch young kids with wide eyes, it just never gets old."

The Panthers carried the early play and at the 2:48 mark, Braun moved the puck to Lingard in front of the Generals starting goaltender, Wesley Ellingsen.  Lingard had some trouble gathering in the biscuit and it squirted to the left point to Bailey Ross.  Ross let a high knuckleball shot go and it twisted and turned and bobbed and weaved all the way to the visitors cage, past a surprised Ellingsen, off the crossbar and into the back of the twine to open the scoring for the Panthers.  But the fireworks were only getting underway.  Four minutes later Drew Couglin, Kai Turner and Marshall Brown all battled on the half wall to the right of the visitors net and it would be Coughlin who would come out of the pack and eventually dart to the high slot.  He snapped a hard shot towards the Generals net and it solved Ellingsen once again, this time right between the wickets.  After romping by the bench to celebrate with mates, Coughlin, Turner and Brown lined up at centre ice and immediately took the puck right back in at the shell-shocked visitors netminder.  And only 19 seconds later, Turner would solve him once again.   Gavin Yee snapped a shot from the right point and Turner, who had set up camp right in front, corralled the rebound and whipped it past Ellingsen for a 3-0 lead.  Only 6:52 had transpired and the score would hold as the two Clubs headed for their respective dressing rooms after twenty minutes were in the books.

There would be no scoring in the middle frame however, the game became somewhat nasty and the Panthers would be the Club who would dominate the sin bin.  With less than two minutes remaining in the stanza, the home squad went down two men for an extended period however Koby Hale, Zack Evans and Braeden Hansen played text book hockey while goaltender Justin Anderson played every inch his size to hold off the visitors.

In the 3rd frame, Generals' Max Creighton finally solved Anderson on the power play at the 6:41 mark.  But the Panthers responded with a power play goal of their own only two minutes later when Brown took a cute little backhand pass from Yamamoto and neatly moved the puck down low to Turner.  The big forward knows how to operate in the greasy areas of the sheet and he immediately brought the puck to the front and attempted to bang it past Ellingsen.  The netminder made the save however, Spink crashed in from the point and then cashed in, snapping a 10-foot shot into the open cage for his first Junior goal of his career.  The goal was timely and seemed to take any fight that was left in the Generals.

Ellingsen stopped 33 of 37 shots while Anderson was good on 22 of 23.  Brown, Anderson and Spink were named the three stars.

Head Coach Brad Tippett had a focus in practice over the last week of knocking down the goals against and if Friday night was any indication, things might be looking up.  "It was a very solid effort from everyone we had in the lineup.  Twenty-year-old Kai Turner must have sometimes felt like he was babysitting tonight with so many young kids in the lineup.  All the young guys acquitted themselves well including the three affiliated players.  Lingard, Braun and Wort have practiced with us most of the year and for a while now have just felt like part of our team.  Everyone took a "defence first" attitude.  We managed the puck better with simple and less risky plays.  Justin Anderson gave us a chance to win, looked confident stopping the puck, communicated with our defencemen and moved the puck nicely.  He actually initiated the counter-attack on more than one occasion.  The timing of Spink's PP goal was critical.  They had got back to within two and it took away any momentum that they had built up."

The Panthers now get ready to host the Westshore Wolves on Monday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre, a makeup game from October when the contest was cancelled due to inclement weather.  The puck drops at 7:30 pm.