Gajda and Panthers knock off Braves 3-1

North Saanich, B.C.
February 1, 2019

Jake Gajda has come a long way this season.  The big and rugged forward was signed by the Club in the summer after an up and down season last year with the Comox Valley Glacier Kings and it has not been all blue skies and clear sailing in his inaugural season with the Peninsula Panthers. 

"No question about it, it has been a work in progress with Jake," explained GM Pete Zubersky.  "He has shown some real signs of brilliance and at other times has hurt our Club with a lack of discipline.  He actually has a soft heart and is well-liked by the Club and Coach has been working on him and with him to focus and be a positive force.  Friday night he brought the Jake Gajda that we were hoping to get when we committed to him last summer.  We need a net presence and have been asking our players to go to that area all season long.  I think Jake spent his entire evening on Friday night right on top of the crease.  He was a difference-maker."

Gajda was injected on the right wing with Centre Matt Sparrow and left winger Carson Cox and the line factored in two of the three Panthers' goals in an exciting and much needed 3-1 win over the visiting Saanich Braves Friday night in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre.  And with the win, the 'Cats' drew within a point of both the Oceanside Generals and Westshore Wolves in VIJHL standings; two teams that the Club is looking to get past before the close of the Regular season.  The Team has won three of their last four games at home, a barn which has treated them well.  And they will be at home in front of their home fans for four of their final five games.

The Panthers were well aware of the significance of the game on Friday evening and they busted out of the chutes as they had hoped.  At the 6:13 mark of the initial stanza, Gajda hustled in on the forecheck and muscled a Braves' defenceman off the puck just to the left of goaltender Anderson Violette.  Gajda then shoveled the puck to Sparrow and from two feet out, he made no mistake in giving the locals the early 1-0 lead.  But Gajda hit the scoresheet once again less than a minute later, this time being sent to the sin bin on a holding call.  No problem, enter Panthers' top scorer Josh Lingard.  Lingard stripped the puck off a Braves' defenceman who was attempting to keep the puck in the Panthers' zone on the power play and he raced the length of the ice and then completely undressed Violette to double the lead to 2-0.  Thirty-seven ticks later and still on the power play, a scramble ensued to the left of Panthers' stopper Chris Akerman.  Akerman made one save and appeared to have the puck covered, however it was dug out by a Braves' forward and it squirted across the crease to the Braves' Jakob McQuillin.  McQuillin tapped in the biscuit and then said, 'Thank you very much,' bringing his squad to within a goal in the process.  It would be the only shot that would beat Akerman on the evening, who was solid all night posting a 26 save performance in gathering in the win.

The Panthers regained their two-goal lead when at the 12:48 mark, 6'4 defenceman Alex Benger took a pass from Captain Thomas Spink and boomed a clapper home from the top of the circle.  Violette had no chance.  Sparrow picked up the 2nd assist on the play giving the Panthers a commanding 3-1 lead and although both teams had opportunities to score, it would remain that way until the final buzzer sounded.

Gajda and McQuillin were named the stars for each squad.  Violette blocked 22 of 25 Panthers' attempts and was nailed for the loss.

"I have watched that goal five or six times," quipped Zubersky.  "It is the kind of goal that we have been searching for all year long.  Gajda set up shop in front of Violette and we had the play in their zone for a solid 15 seconds or more.  Violette was working to see around Gajda and I know that takes it out of the netminder.  I don't think he was 100% set when Benger hit it.  I loved the play.  It was a winning play.  Several guys were huge on the goal and their names went down on the scoresheet, but Gajda was just as important and without him willing to commit to getting to the net and making it tough on Violette, we do not score that goal.  That's what we need from others right now - Cox, Auchterlonie, Wort, Ragsdale, a bunch of them.  These guys have to get to the net and if we do this as a group, we will then be really tough to beat."

Coach Tippett knew that his troops had to come out and put a 'W' up on the board.  "That was basically a MUST win for us to retain the ability to control our own playoff destiny. Defensively, we were much more determined and for the most part managed the puck by opting for the safer options. Most importantly, we were a little (actually a lot) nastier and harder to play against. The theme for the night was “Win the War” and we got that done. We always get great efforts from a few guys. Tonight we got real impact on the game efforts from players like Visscher, Taylor, Gajda, Auchterlonie just to name a few. Coming off the flu, Akerman made timely saves and was in control of his emotions throughout.  They got a PP goal, which in my opinion was a questionable penalty call. It was compounded by the goal occurring after we thought the puck was covered. Lingard’s short-handed goal offset that.  Our PP didn’t click yet we accomplished the goals set out. We had good entries, recovered loose pucks, and had great scoring opportunities. We could have just as easily been 2/2 instead of 0/2. 
 
We focused offensively on getting to the net on the rush and getting some traffic in front of the net. Gajda went back into the lineup for that reason.
 
We are still the youngest team in the league and the only team in the 41 JrB teams in the province without a 20-year-old. We are fine with that. As the season goes on, more of our roster is not just playing but making a bonafide contribution. If you didn’t look in the program you wouldn’t know Jensen is just 16.  Ragsdale still has some high-risk moments but he is getting pucks out on the wall more often than not. Early in the season, more often it didn’t get out. Those are just two examples. We just need all of it to really come together over the next month.
 
We have segmented the last 7 games into a mock 7-game playoff series.  With the win, the “series” is tied 1-1 with 5 games remaining."

The Panthers will have a week off before welcoming in the visiting Nanaimo Buccaneers next Friday night with the puck set to drop at 7:30 pm.