Panthers get in the grill of Cougars in earning an all-important 4-1 road win

You do not need to be the sharpest tool in the tool box to realize that the Panthers might just have left some of the heavy lifting for the back end of their VIJHL schedule.  The Club garnered only one point in their first five games of the season and have left other points on the table throughout the first four months of the season.  And as they entered the month of December, their schedule did not look like it was doing them any favours.  But the Club battled on Friday night and clinging to a 3-2 lead on home ice against the Kerry Park Islanders, Panthers' forward Tanner Wort scored with only 15 seconds remaining in the game into an Islanders' net which had been vacated for an extra attacker to put the game out of reach and to give his squad the insurance marker they were looking for.  And on Sunday afternoon with the "Cats" from the Peninsula holding a well-deserved 3-1 lead on the road at the Archie Browning Arena against the Victoria Cougars, it would be deja vu all over again.  With more than two minutes left in the game, Cougars yanked goaltender Cam Stevenson in favour of the extra attacker in hopes of scoring two markers and forcing an extra frame.  But at the 17:43 mark of the final stanza, former Cougar defenceman turned Panthers' defenceman Alex Benger gathered in a puck in his own end and lobbed it into the neutral zone out of harm's way. The puck took a friendly bounce past a Cougars' rear guard and in the process, sprung 16-year-old David Edgar in alone on a wide-open cage.  Edgar skated to within five feet and then slid the rolling puck to the back for the 4-1 insurance marker which for all intents and purposes put an exclamation mark on the win. 

As was the case on Friday, the Panthers never trailed in the game.  At the 6:48 mark of the 1st period, Josh Lingard took a pass off the stick of Riley Braun and cut in off the left side on Cougars' starter Owen Sikkes.  Sikkes blocked the first attempt off the stick of Lingard however, the Panthers' sniper chipped the rebound over the stopper to give his Club the early lead.  It was the only marker in the initial 20 minutes and 13 minutes later, the Panthers went to the intermission with the slim lead.

It did not take long for the Panthers to strike in the 2nd stanza.  Panthers' centreman Logan Speirs cleanly won a draw to the left of Sikkes and back onto the stick of Benger at the right point with fans still returning to their seats and with only 29 seconds having elapsed.  Benger snapped a shot to the top of the Cougars net and it went past everyone including a startled Sikkes to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.  But the Cougars replied only four minutes later when speedy and skilled 20-year-old Tyler Vanuden beat Panthers' Chris Akerman.  Akerman, like Benger, had spent some time with the Cougars two seasons ago.  The Cougars seemed to gain some momentum off the Vanuden marker.  Braun was sent to the sin bin for interference at the 8:46 mark and the Cougars looked dangerous over the next minute, tossing the puck crisply in the Panthers' zone.  But Lingard, who perhaps played one of his best two-way games of the season, gathered in a puck on the half-wall to the right of Akerman and wheeled through the neutral zone and into the Cougars' end.  Captain Thomas Spink jumped up in the play and Lingard moved the puck to Spink who was coming through the middle.  Spink snapped a shot past Sikkes from the high slot at the 9:43 mark and while still short-handed to give his Team the two-goal lead once again, this time at 3-1.

Both teams exchanged chances and hits over the next 30 minutes but it would be the Panthers who would prevail on the afternoon.  Akerman played his 2nd solid game of the weekend blocking 30 of 31 shots coming his way and picked up the win.  Sikkes absorbed the loss and blocked 29 of 32 shots in 40 minutes of action.  Cam Stevenson mopped up in the 3rd period and blocked all ten shots that were sent his way before heading to the bench for the extra attacker and watching from 65 feet when Edgar scored the Panthers 4th goal.

The Panthers regulation win coupled with the Saanich Braves overtime 4-3 loss in Oceanside on Sunday now leaves the Panthers nine points behind the Braves for 3rd in the South Division of the VIJHL, albeit, the Braves have two games in hand.  The two squad meet this Friday in Saanich for a 6:30 pm start and three hours later, both groups will shut down for the Christmas break.

Coach Tippett comments: 
"We challenged the players in a pregame meeting on Friday. The discussion centred around how the success of any team is directly linked to how deep the commitment each player has to not letting his teammates down. The level of the players commitment to put the team first, to put his body in danger, to play through pain and do whatever is needed to get the job done. 

We had gone a few games where that was missing. The last two games that commitment was as strong as we have seen it.  We had multiple guys playing 100% while not being 100% healthy. We had players taking hits to make plays, putting their egos aside to make safe smart plays. We had players supporting each other. We had players sticking to the game plan. We had players changing on the fly when they could and not when they had nothing left. We had more players blocking shots. Akerman gave us back to back games of solid goaltending and saves at critical times. Our best players were our best players. Role players played their roles well and chipped in. Visscher and Hines found some chemistry on the penalty killing. Diamond Burchak provided some extra jump on the blue line with his ability to move pucks ahead. I could say something positive about everyone.

KP snd Vic have explosive offences and score in bunches. In both games when we gave up a goal we answered right back with not one but two quick goals. our efforts and puck management in the first and last two minutes of each period was much, much better.

We need one more solid effort on Friday and then get away for a couple of weeks."

After Christmas, the Panthers will play 9 of their last 14 games in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre and, including Friday, have five games with the Braves. 

"We shot ourselves in the foot in the early going and then we reloaded and shot ourselves in the other foot," said Panthers' General Manager Pete Zubersky.  "Our entire Organization from the Management to the Coaching Staff to the players, who are most important, all believe that we have so much more in the tank than we have shown to date.  I thought that we did a lot of good things this weekend from the crease on out.  We like to play at home and our schedule coming down the stretch will give us that opportunity.  But we have to keep focused on the task at hand and that is taking care of business before the break."