Cats Clawed

The old adage, "You scratch my back and I will scratch yours" was alive and well on Friday night in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre.  But once the game had played out it was the visiting Saanich Braves who managed to make five scratch marks on the backs of the Peninsula Panthers while the Cats could only muster two claw marks of their own.  And in the end the visitors came away with a significant 5-2 win over the Panthers, a game which the home squad needed badly.

The Panthers looked slow and uninterested when the puck was dropped shortly after 7:30 pm and it was Ryan Strange for the Braves who was left all alone in front of Cats starter Chris Akerman.  Strange made a deke and then deftly tucked the puck behind Akerman only 6:23 in.  And at the 10:59 mark Braves Dale McCabe came out from behind the net and from a tough angle he somehow managed to wrist the puck past Akerman for a 2-0 lead.

Panthers power forward Carson Cox got his squad back into the game only 1:14 into the 2nd period when a backhand managed to elude Braves netminder Anderson Violette.  But it would be the visitors Gavin Grewal who would give his squad a 3-1 lead only four minutes later.  At the 10:32 mark the Panthers moved the puck around on the power play and it ended up on David Egar's stick down in the corner to the left of Violette.  Edgar moved the puck up the wall to the point to defenceman Skyler Diamond-Burchuk and he soft tossed it to Alex Benger for a one-timer.  Benger got all of it and ripped the disk past Violette to bring his squad within a goal.  The Cats began to control the play and perhaps the most significant point in the game occured with only a second left in the 2nd stanza.  Matt Sparrow romped into the Braves zone and down the right side and pulled the would-be defenceman towards him.  Sparrow then dropped the puck to Benger who was trailing on the play and the big defenceman found himself all alone in the low slot in front of Violette.  He blasted the puck and left Violette with no chance however the puck harmlessly went wide and off the glass and this was immediately followed by the buzzer to signify the end of the period.  The two Club's went to their respective rooms with the Braves holding a 3-2 lead.

Braves gritty foward Kyle Mace scored a key goal at the with only 3:43 remaining on the clock when he whistled down the right side and blasted a slapshot on the short side over the glove of Akerman.  And Grewal put the final nail in the coffin when at the 18:35 mark he tucked in his 2nd of the game on a backhand from a tough angle to.

The Panthers outshot the Braves 30-26 on the night.  Grewal was named the Player of the Game for the visitors while Diamond-Burchuk was full value for the Panthers Player of the Game.

The Panthers hit the ice in Nanaimo next Thursday and will return on Friday when they play host to the visiting Westshore Wolves.