Auchterlonie pots OT marker to run home-win streak to 6

Peninsula Panthers' Scott Arbuckle muscled the puck out of his own end with just under two minutes of extra time having expired and the disk was picked up by Josh Lingard as he raced through the neutral zone.  Lingard blasted down the left side, into the Comox Valley Glacier Kings zone and around a would-be defender and then darted towards the visitor's cage which was being guarded by Matthias Smith.  His mate, right winger Fraser Auchterlonie, was camped to the left of Smith and just at the top of the crease and when Lingard deftly put the puck right onto the sweet spot on the stick of Auchterlonie, the slick forward knew what to do and did it.  His goal, from two feet out, sent the Peninsula Panthers spilling from the bench and they joined Auchterlonie and Lingard who were first to the party.

The Glacier Kings came into the game clearly struggling at the bottom of the VIJHL standings and did not have a win in their first 14 games.  "We played them last Saturday night up in Comox and you could tell that they were down at the end of the game," quipped Pete Zubersky.  "Our group discussed what their Head Coach Jordan Kamprath had and what he was trying to accomplish.  They have had a miserable start but I really believe that they are going to win some games this season, maybe a bunch.  They are a hard-working group and from the outside looking in, Kamprath seems to be doing a great job in turning the ship around.  It takes time but he has them working hard and they were disciplined and those two things go a long way in winning hockey games in this league, in any league."

The Panthers were full value for the win and were unfortunate to not have won the game in regulation time.  There was no scoring in the 1st period however, Panthers defenceman Skyler Diamond-Burchuk was the first to light the lamp when at the 3:09 mark of the middle stanza, he found himself all alone in the low slot and made no mistake in snapping a shot past Smith.  Joe Stafford-Veale and David Edgar were awarded helpers on the play.  But the Glacier Kings were quick to reply and at the 7:19 mark, it was the visitors' Damian Rennie who would knot the score when he beat Panthers' starter Chris Akerman on a pretty play.  The Panthers turned the puck over in the neutral zone and it was moved to Rick Takeda who was blasting down the left side.  Takeda moved the puck to a streaking Rennie who one-timed the pass past Akerman.  The Panthers responded to take the lead after 40 minutes were in the books when Jack McMillan hit paydirt.  A scramble ensued in front of Akerman and deep in the Panthers' zone however, Stafford-Veale was able to clear it from harm's way and onto the stick of Edgar on the half-wall.  Edgar threw the puck rink-wide and McMillan picked it up in the neutral zone as he sped out of his zone.  McMillan moved into the Glacier Kings zone and just below the top of the circle, he snapped a shot that beat Smith on the long side.

It appeared as though the Panthers would take a 2-1 win in regulation however with just 34 seconds left, they failed to move the puck out of their own zone.  The puck went back into the corner to the left of Akerman and it was moved quickly to Glacier Kings' Jerzy Gus who roofed one past a startled Akerman to send the game to the extra frame and to set up the heroics by Auchterlonie.

Akerman blocked 16 of 18 shots sent his way by the Glacier Kings while Smith knocked down 29 of 32 shots that the Panthers peppered in his direction.  The three stars were Auchterlonie, Diamond-Burchuk and Stafford-Veale, although Edgar could have easily factored into the selection with two assists on the night.

On Sunday afternoon the Club heads to the Archie Browning Arena for a 3:30 pm start against the Cougars and will return home next Friday night when they host the visiting Oceanside Generals for their 2nd and final visit.  The Panthers will be looking to run their home winning streak to 7 games with the contest slated to get underway at 7:30 pm.