Diamond-Burchuk scores in losing effort New Year's Day

Skyer Diamond-Burchuk and Matt Lawrence headed back to Winnipeg for some good old home cooking over the Christmas Break and after a marathon trip back to Sidney, both showed up for practice on December 31st.  Lawrence could be forgiven if he was not wearing his shorts and sandals as the Winnipeg area had been gripped with a bitter cold spell while the boys were back home.  While it might take the two a bit of time to thaw out now that they are back on the West Coast, on the ice Diamond-Burchuk was red hot.

Shortly after 3:30 pm on New Year's Day, the puck was dropped at the Panorama Recreation Centre as the Peninsula Panthers welcomed in the Saanich Braves for the afternoon encounter.  But it seemed as though the Braves were the only ones who realized that the game had actually started as the Panthers picked perhaps their worst time to play what was easily their weakest period of the year.  Trailing 3-0 after 20 minutes were in the books, the Club seemed to wake up and carried the play for the rest of the way.  But the slow start would prove to be their undoing and when the Braves scored with only 16 seconds left in the game into an empty net, all was said and done and the visitors had walked off with a 5-2 win.

Riley Braun opened the scoring for the Panthers at 19:05 of the 2nd stanza on helpers from Josh Lingard and Nolan Lee.  A shot squirted past Braves' netminder Chris Combiadakis and sat just inches from the goaline when Braun swooped in and tapped in a belated Christmas gift. 

The Braves extended the lead to 4-1 at the 11:21 mark on a goal by Jordan Strandlund.  All seemed to be lost however, the Panthers were awarded a power play with four minutes left.  Head Coach Brad Tippett decided to yank starter Chris Akerman for the extra attacker putting the Panthers at a 6-4 man-advantage.  The Club moved the puck around crisply before Lingard moved it to Braun who was stationed on the half wall.  Braun spotted Diamond-Burchuk on the far point and threaded a pass onto his tape.  The skilled and crafty defenceman made a move to the inside against a would-be defender before snapping a shot past Combiadakis from the top of the circles with just under three minutes remaining.  The Panthers yanked Akerman once again however with just 16 ticks on the clock, the puck turned over at the "Cats" blueline and Strandlund was on the spot to put the final nail in the coffin.

The Panthers do not have to wait long to try and put a win on the board in 2018 as they are slated to face the Westshore Wolves at the Q-Centre on Wednesday night.  The Club will be back home this Friday night when they welcome in their feline foes - Victoria Cougars - for a 7:30 pm start.