Panthers get back to winning ways with convincing 5-2 dumping of the Oceanside Generals

Friday night was pretty much the usual as the Oceanside Generals' bus rolled into the parking lot of the Panorama Recreation Centre around 5:30 pm, two full hours before the game against the Peninsula Panthers was slated to go.  And the two teams warmed up at 7:00 pm as is the norm.  After the Panthers and Generals headed to the room, the gate swung open for the ice machine to take centre stage, a scene that acts out many times each and every day at rinks across Canada.  But something a bit different took place.  Kyle Ireland, who is the play-by-play for the Generals, noted that a screen protecting one of the lights over the ice sheet had become dislodged and it was hanging precariously over the ice in the Generals' end.  The staff at the Panorama were alerted and before things were back on track and ready to go, the 7:30 pm start had been pushed back thirty minutes.

Clayton Butler sang the National Anthem and then the two Clubs lined up at Centre Ice and although a bit overdue, it was game on!  The game was an important one in VIJHL standings and although the Panthers had slipped in a pair of games last weekend, both teams had been trending upwards and had been playing well.  At least on paper this looked like a coin flip and at the end of the 1st period the two teams remained scoreless, albeit, the Panthers had several more quality scoring chances.

Only eight ticks into the middle frame Noah Goyer romped down the middle as he entered the "Cats" end however, the play was blown dead on the offside.  Goyer might not have felt it was the right call and so decided to continue towards Panthers' starter Chris Akerman and he let go a shot well after the loud tweet which had stopped the other skaters on the ice.  Goyer was sent to the sin bin for unsportsmanlike conduct and it did not take Panthers' Matt Lawrence long to make him pay.  Tanner Wort moved the puck from the half wall back to Skyler Diamond-Burchuk and the crafty and skilled defencemen shot the puck towards Aaron Jakubowski who was minding the fort for the Generals.  The puck went off the skate of an Oceanside Generals' defender and Lawrence was at the right place at the right time when he took the redirection and deposited it behind the Generals' target.  Twenty-year-old Max Creighton had the answer at the 13:30 mark.  He romped down the left side and let a seeing-eye backhand shot go that eluded Akerman and zoomed into the top of the cage to tie the score at 1-1.  It did not remain that way for long.  Braeden Hansen gathered in the disk for the Panthers at the Generals blueline and threw it towards a crowed visitors crease at the 16:08 mark.  Joe Stafford-Veale and Jack McMillan were right in front and battled two Generals' defenders for the loose puck and it was McMillan who would find the handle and deposit the biscuit in the basket.  It looked like the Panthers would take the 2-1 lead into the 2nd intermission but it was not to be.  Speedy right winger Landon Dziadyk managed to get behind the Panthers' defence with only 43 seconds remaining however, it looked like the puck was too far ahead and was destined for Akerman's stick.  Akerman took two strides out of his crease but decided that it might not be that prudent to take another.  All went South for the big netminder when his pads got tangled and he went down like a big Oak tree.  Dziadyk would get a giggle or two as he calmly deposited the puck into the wide open cage.

It was all Panthers in the final stanza as Josh Lingard scored twice and Thomas Spink added a single to put a large pin in the Generals' party balloon.  Marshall Brown added a couple helpers and Riley Braun, Shota Yamamoto and Hansen each were awarded assists.

The Panthers played with a healthy lineup for the first time this season and that fact was not lost on Head Coach Brad Tippett.  "It's amazing what a difference a full lineup makes.  Spink, Yamamoto and Hansen could play all out versus having to be conservative.  There was a lot of hard work, commitment to physicality and smart decisions with the puck.  I thought we took advantage of a couple unnecessary penalties in the game.  We had strong leadership tonight.  There were a couple of bounces that went our way, no doubt about it.  We stayed focused on the only thing that we could control and that was the next shift."

Akerman was awarded the win stopping 18 of 20 Generals' shots while Jakubowski was tagged with the loss in blocking 28 of 33 attempts.  Spink, Lingard and Diamond-Burchuk were named the three stars in the contest.

The Panthers will leave the Victoria area around 3:00 pm Saturday afternoon for a 7:30 pm date in Comox with the Glacier Kings.  They will be next back at home on Friday night when those same Glacier Kings come to the Panorama Recreation Centre.