Panthers lose 5-4 heartbreaker to end season

There was no quit in the Peninsula Panthers on Tuesday night on the road in Campbell River, but a valiant effort fell just short when the Storm's Reid Wheeldon beat Panthers' goaltender Connor McKillop with only 3:24 remaining in the game to cap a heart-stopping comeback 5-4 win for the home squad.

The Storm opened up a two-goal lead early in the 2nd frame on goals by Kyle Kaufmann and Jalen Price on the power play but over a span of 84 seconds 14 minutes into the period, the Panthers changed all of that.  Cianan Briscoe, 20-year-old Ty Hermsen - playing in his final game - and Tanner Wort all put the puck to the back of the Storm's net to chase their starter Carson Shamerhorn in favour of Liam Murphy.  Murphy stopped the bleeding for the Storm and the two Clubs went to the 2nd intermission with the Panthers clinging to a 3-2 lead.

The Storm came out flying in the final stanza and were rewarded when Dawson Franks beat McKillop at the 5:05 mark.  And Frank was spot on once again four minutes later when he tallied to give the Storm the lead once again, this time at 4-3.  But the never-say-die Panthers continued to grind away and it was Carson Cox who knotted the game at 4-4 when he beat Murphy with a brilliant snapshot with under six minutes left in regulation.  It looked as though the two teams would go to their first overtime game of the series however, that all changed with Wheeldon's heroics late in the game.

With the loss, the Panthers' season has come to an end, dropping their 1st Round best-of-7, four games to one.  Panthers' Governor Pete Zubersky will be providing more details on the series and on the season in an open letter in the next couple of days.