Sparrow and his buddy Benger and the Panthers prevail 6-4 over Cougars

Matt Sparrow, what took so long for you to get here??  One could forgive Panthers' Head Coach Brad Tippett if he muttered these words out loud after an excited and happy crowd left the oh so friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre Friday night after a heart-stopping 6-4 win over the visiting and South Division leading Victoria Cougars.  The win was the Panthers 2nd time in as many chances against their arch rival in the Cougars and one that was more than well-deserved. 

Coach Tippett had some other thoughts, "I thought we had our best game as a team and a number of players played their best games of the year. Matt Sparrow has been a spark plug. Part of his success is linked to the fact that he hits the net and shoots the puck low. Hopefully some of our other guys link those facts in with his success. We talked about what we needed to accomplish to be successful tonight. Winning the special teams battle was at the top of the list. Any night you go two/five on power play and kill 5 out of 5 penalties - you stand a good chance to win. I loved our commitment and composure tonight. We answered their goals with goals of our own."

Yes, Matt Sparrow who only arrived eight days ago on the Peninsula has made a major impact with the Club.  He was pointless in his debut, a stinging 5-2 loss last Friday against the Kerry Park Islanders however, he had a goal and two helpers against the Westshore Wolves on Wednesday and was in on the Josh Lingard breakaway in Double Overtime to leave the Wolves howling in the Q Centre in Colwood.  But everyone was looking forward to Friday night and none more so than Sparrow and his close friend on the Panthers, Alex Benger.  Benger and Sparrow both played for the Cougars last season.  The Panthers management had been trying to deal for both of them more than a year ago and were close on the trading deadline a year ago January 10th.  Benger was acquired in the Spring this year and Sparrow was obtained a couple months ago and it made for an interesting storyline going into the game on Friday.  And to add to the story, Panthers' goaltender Connor McKillop was picked up last season in December when he was released by the Cougars and he was the starter between the pipes for the Panthers when the puck dropped shortly after 7:30 pm. 

Sparrow has played far too little hockey this season after getting banged up in early September while attending a Junior A camp in Alberta.  The injury forced him to the sidelines and it was only a week ago last Friday when he played his first game of the year.  He had not even had a practice with the Club going into his first game a week ago.  But the imposing 6'2", 215 lbs left winger was ready and willing against the Cougars and it was obvious as soon as the puck hit the ice for the opening face-off.

Sparrow opened the scoring on the power play at 14:07 of the opening frame when he beat Cougars starter Cam Stevenson on helpers from Riley Braun and Tanner Wort.  And he wasted no time in beating Stevenson again at the 16:40 mark, this time Braun and Josh Lingard chipped in with assists.  There were other chances, but McKillop and Stevenson held firm and the Panthers held on to the 2-0 lead after 20 minutes were in the books.  The biggest collision of the period occurred at the 13:08 mark of the stanza when Cougars' forward Tyler Vanuden ran over a defenceless McKillop.  Vanuden was sent to the sin bin for two minutes on a play that could have just as easily been called a major.

At the 6:53 mark of the 2nd period, a Victoria Cougars' forward ran McKillop yet again.  Panthers' Captain Thomas Spink responded and was sent to the box for cross-checking while the Cougars were inexplicably not whistled for an infraction.  This time McKillop did not get off as easy and was forced out of the game due to a lower body injury.  He most likely will miss 2-6 weeks.  Chris Akerman jumped in between the pipes and played the remainder of the game for the Panthers.



Vanuden scored for the Cougars at the 15:45 to make it a one-goal game however, Braun responded with only 24 ticks left in the period to restore the two-goal lead at 3-1 going into the intermission.  Sparrow and Spink were awarded helpers on the play.

The final stanza saw a flurry of six goals.  Sparrow scored his 3rd of the game from Wort on the power play only 45 seconds into the period however, an unforced give-away deep in the Panthers' zone saw Cougars' Matthew Clark walk right down mainstreet to beat Akerman.  Logan Speirs gave the Panthers a 5-2 lead at the 6:45 mark on a pretty passing play from Carson Cox and Joe Stafford-Veale.  Vanuden was quick to respond at the 11:03 mark.  Cougars' Cameron LeSergent made the game close when he scored at the 19:35 mark to make it a 5-4 game but it was all over when Braun stripped a Cougars' defenceman deep in the Cougars' end and then calmly tossed the puck into the vacated cage from the wall to seal the 6-4 win.

Sparrow and Vanuden were the players of the game while McKillop picked up the win for the Panthers.

"I loved the way Sparrow had kicked the door in the past two games," quipped GM Pete Zubersky.  "He has changed everything.  He hits, he hits the net, he goes to the dirty areas, he smiles.  I believe our roster has really responded to him and to his level of play.  I saw Alex Benger, who is a laid back kid, play with a fire in his belly tonight.  I thought all our lines were working their tails off and it was just awesome to see."

Zubersky was not as happy about the injury to McKillop.  "It looks to me like the Cougars employ a strategy to run our goaltenders.  It happens every single game we play.  They ran him twice tonight which is about par for the course and the second one injured the kid.  I am shocked that the first one didn't.  We have asked the officiating on numerous occasions to watch for it.  It's not an accident and it is really not part of the game.  McKillop is a good kid.  He did not deserve what happened to him in any way."

The Panthers head up to Mill Bay on Saturday night to take on the Kerry Park Islanders and will be back at home next Friday night when the host the visiting Saanich Braves.