From Rags(dale) to Riches - Panthers win 2-1

North Saanich, B.C.
September 21, 2018

The crowd spilled into the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre Friday night looking for the home squad to rack up their first win of the season, and the Peninsula Panthers did not disappoint.  With the score knotted at 1-1 as the clock raced towards zero, overtime seemed inevitable.  But the trio of Logan Speirs, Jack Taylor and Jonah Ragsdale had different plans.  Speirs stripped the puck off former Panthers' player Marshall Brown in the neutral zone right in front of the Victoria Cougars bench and, with only a few seconds remaining in the final stanza and in regulation time, Jack Taylor picked up the disk and raced towards Cougars' goaltender Anderson Violette who was guarding the visitor's cage.  Taylor took a low shot which Violette turned aside, however Ragsdale was on the spot to bang home the rebound from about three feet out to give the Panthers their first lead of the game.....a Rags-dale to Riches story if there ever was one.

The final 23 seconds slowly wound off the clock and then the Panthers spilled over the boards and celebrated with Goaltender Connor McKillop who turned in his best performance of the season in picking up the win.  McKillop was just about perfect in stopping 21 of 22 shots while Violette was good as well in blocking 25 of 27 pucks sent in his direction.

Cougars' Carl Ewart opened the scoring when he broke in all alone on McKillop at the 15:49 mark of the initial stanza after a dreadful mistake in the neutral zone.  The Panthers seemed to have the majority of the play however when the first 20 minutes were in the books they trailed the visitors by one.

Alex Benger got the Panthers even at the 3:15 mark of the middle frame when he took a pass from Captain Thomas Spink and sent a seemingly harmless shot towards Violette.  It somehow managed to avoid everyone including the netminder and it did not stop until it had come firmly to rest in the back of the Cougars' net.  Taylor was awarded the 2nd assist on the Benger marker.  The two teams went toe-to-toe for the remainder of the game until Ragsdale's winner; one that the Panthers hope will be the start of things to come.

Head Coach Brad Tippett was happy for the Club to get the monkey off its back and had some interesting comments.  "It was certainly our best effort of the year - the closest we have come to a full 60-minute effort.   We stuck to our game and I thought we outplayed the Cougars in all areas.  We took a foolish double-minor penalty early in the third which allowed them a spark of enthusiasm, but I thought our PK crew - which includes our goaltender Connor McKillop - did great job.  Our effort level and for the most part our decision-making were positive.  It was good to see Ragsdale stick with the program.  Jonah is loaded with skill but sometimes tries to be too fancy.  He tried to beat a 3-year veteran defenceman with a move that works once in a while in Minor Hockey and almost never in Junior.  He knew he made the mistake but he didn’t fold his cards. He hustled the rest of the game and earned the right to be on the ice in the last minute.  We had many players who played their best game of the year."

The Panthers will head to Saanich on Sunday afternoon to take on an undefeated Braves squad before getting onto the Iron Lung Thursday afternoon to head to Nanaimo to take on the Buccaneers.  And the Club will be back into the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre next Friday night when they welcome in the visiting Kerry Park Islanders.  The puck will drop shortly after 7:30 pm

Panthers Tracks....Brendan Dawes stole the early show when the 11-year-old singer walked onto the ice for the first time to belt out the National Anthem....He struggled to get out the first few words but once he got going, he blew the large attending crowd away....Dawes will be the Panthers regular singer from here on and he might just be one of the best ever....The Panthers had been searching for one of their goaltenders to step up and McKillop was up to the task on Friday....Coach Tippett was a bit under the weather but looked dapper in his three-piece suit....Speirs came out of the game with a nick or two and is questionable for Sunday in Saanich....The atmosphere in the barn was electric all night and the crowd was buzzing as they left the building after the win....