Saturday, September 7th, 2019
Mill Bay, British Columbia
A relentless and pounding Peninsula Panthers forecheck stopped the Kerry Park Islanders in their tracks on their home opener Saturday on a warm and pleasant evening in Mill Bay. With period leads of 3-0 and 6-0, the "Cats" coasted to a comfortable 8-1 road victory, their 2nd straight win to open the 2019/20 season.
Speedy Jonah Ragsdale opened the scoring midway through the 1st stanza when he sent a lazer to the roof of the Islanders net. Not to be out-done, Matt Sparrow and Lucas Thomson-Fiddes also chipped in with 1st period markers. For Thomson-Fiddes the goal was special - it was the first Junior goal for the 16-year-old who hails from North Saanich. Thomson-Fiddes unexpectedly made the Panthers' roster after a never-say-die attitude throughout the summer and by the looks of things, the youngster is set to make some noise in the den this season.
Riley Braun opened up a 4-0 lead for the Panthers at only the 3:23 mark of the 2nd stanza. And two rookies followed up Braun's lead with first Junior goals of their own, one by the silky smooth and super talented Denver Maloney and one by 6'4" Lucky Luc Pelletier. For Pelletier, the goal was just a little bit more special as it was scored on his 16th birthday. It was scored in front of his parents who had driven down from Comox for the pair of season opening games.
Tanner Wort continued the Panthers' dominance in the final frame when he hit paydirt on the power play just past the midway mark. Matt Sparrow was left all alone from just 14 feet out, but elected to pass up a glorious scoring opportunity for even a better one. Sparrow unselfishly fed Wort, who was stationed just to the side of the Islanders net, and he tapped in a wide-open chance from about 24 inches to spread the lead to seven. Islanders' Ryan Campbell broke up Panthers' netmider Connor McKillop's opportunity to post a shutout when he beat the Cats' stopper with just a few ticks over five minutes left in the contest. But it was Pelletier who would get the last laugh and would finish off the scoring when at the 17:18 mark he walked in all alone and deked the Islanders' goaltender before softly tossing the disk to the back of the net.
McKillop blocked 13 of 14 shots directed his way in picking up the win. The Panthers tossed 52 shots on the Islanders net. Pelletier was named the star of the game for the Panthers for his two-goal performance.
Coach Brad Tippett seemed thrilled with the group he has assembled and certainly happy to have gone 2-for-2 in the opening weekend of the season.
"Our goal was to play a 60 minute game. We were closer to a 60 minute effort tonight than last night. I thought we had relentless pursuit, committed effort and determination. Our structure was in place and we played as a team. We have full buy-in with a team-first attitude and willing to do the little things. Both nights we had all 20 players pulling in the same direction and pulling for each other."
The Panthers will attempt to move their winning streak to open the season to three games when they welcome in the visiting Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Friday evening at 7:30 pm. The Club will then board the Iron Lung and head up the Island Highway to Campbell River the following day where they will play a heavily anticipated matchup against the Campbell River Storm.
Panthers tracks....Sparrow, Braun and Lingard lead all Panthers scorers with 4 points in two games....Stefan Grunert was banged up in exhibition play and remained out for the two games on the weekend....he is the only rostered player on the Club other than a goaltender who does not have a point....#14 on the Panthers, Mackenzie Benn-Wipp is a cousin of former Panthers' players and brothers Jordie and Jamie Benn....Benn-Wipp requested #14 in honour of Jamie who wears the same number as Captain of the Dallas Stars....Panthers scoring has been distributed among all four lines.
.jpg)
Email
Print
