Panthers 5-2 road win in Campbell River delivers "Rookie Idol" Champion

The video from Friday night was not kind.  The Comox Valley Glacier Kings had outworked the Peninsula Panthers in the 3rd period of a 4-3 Panthers win and perhaps the Club was a bit fortunate to escape with the win on home ice.  There was not a single shot blocked and there were some huge mistakes which had hurt the Team.  Full credit goes to the visitors for their gritty performance however, the effort was simply not good enough.

Coach Tippett went into the dressing room and it took him 7-8 minutes to fully let his Club know he was disappointed in the effort.  The old adage " when the crap hits the fan, it is wise to stay away from the fan" was certainly true and anyone that was walking past the Panthers' dressing room while Tippett was explaining his view of the game to his troops, seemed to significantly pick up their step.  Tippett was the "Fan."

The Iron Lung departed Greater Victoria on Saturday afternoon around 2:30 pm and it carried a Club that had gone 3-0 through their first three games of the 2019/20 season.  The Panthers were headed to Campbell River for an early season appointment with the Storm, an opponent that carried an identical 3-0 record into the game.  The two were the only remaining undefeated Organizations in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.  Something had to give.

At first, there was a bit of chatter however before the bus rolled through Goldstream Park it had suddenly gone quiet.  Some players had earphones on, some not.  But a pin could be heard as the bus ambled Northbound over the Malahat.  The overwhelming quiet and calm on the bus was interesting considering this was the Panthers' first road trip of the season.  However, many of this group had done this same trip last season in a hotly contested 7-game playoff series and had come out 2nd best after leading 3-1 in games before bowing out in a heart-pounding 7th game.  Those memories came from last March but they were as fresh as if they had happened a week ago.  

Some noise and chatter built just North of Nanaimo, not overwhelmingly loud however enough to realize that the bus was occupied.  And then 15 minutes from the outskirts of Campbell River, all went quiet once again.

The two teams warmed up and the ice was greased.  Tippett addressed his troops one last time before they spilled out onto the ice to await the entrance of the Storm Hockey Club.  The lights went down and the Storm players burst from the South end of the arena as the fans erupted in the stands.  After the introduction of the Storm starting lineup, the announcer asked the question to the fans three times, "Are you ready."  The response grew louder each time but for the Panthers, they had seen the same thing many times over the past couple of years and this veteran group was not "Wide-eyed" at the atmosphere any longer.

Panthers' Goaltender Connor McKillop roughed up the ice in his crease while his counterpart at the other end of the sheet Robert Michetti did the same.  Michetti had an eye-popping .050 goals against average and looked like he was going to be hard to beat.

A great 1st period left those in attendance wanting more of the same.  The two opponents each threw seven shots on goal and each had good chances but after 20 minutes were firmly in the books the game remained scoreless.

The home side opened the scoring at the 11:46 mark of the 2nd stanza when the Storm received a huge but accidental break coming off the skate of referee Steve Brown.  The Storm had hemmed the Panthers in their own end for 20 seconds before Matt Sparrow picked up the puck on the half wall to the right of McKillop.  The wall was clogged moving out of the zone however there was lots of room on the other side of McKillop.  Sparrow moved the puck hard enough so the puck would find the weak side corner but Brown was close to the play and the puck directed off his skate and onto the stick of the diminutive but dangerous Quinn Messer.  Messer quickly moved the puck into the slot to Brian Majic and he made no mistake snapping the first goal of the game past McKillop.  And only 36 seconds later it was Jake Boxer beating McKillop for a commanding 2-0 lead.

The "Cats" seemed to regain their mojo and the line of Jack Taylor and rookies Sterling Lyon and Lucas Thomson Fiddes came out and seemed to set the tone pounding every white jersey that moved.  And after just a short stint on the bench, they did more of the same.  Their play seemed to ignite the Club.

At the 16:21 mark, and urgently needing a tally, Luc Pelletier picked up the puck on the left side in the neutral zone and rimmed it hard into the Storm zone.  Sparrow picked up the disk after it had gone around the Storm net and was coming back up the wall and he deftly sent a pass to the left point to defenceman Hunter Jensen.  Jensen made a move to get below the top of the circle to the right of Michetti and he blew a shot over the goaltenders right shoulder to put the Panthers right back into the game at 2-1.  The Panthers Club errupted as it was Jensen's first Junior goal after the defensive stalwart did not have a tally last season.  Jenson threw an imaginary monkey from his back to the delight of his excited mates.

Two minutes later, 3-year-veteran Tanner Wort notched the game at 2-2 after some nice work by Riley Braun and Josh Lingard.  The trio - who seem to all have the same brain - played tic-tac-toe with the puck with a couple quality scoring chances and resulting saves by Michetti.  Lingard then took a pass from Braun and found himself in the high slot and he saw Wort sitting just two feet to the left of the big stopper.  Lingards pass to Wort was deflected however Wort got it back just behind the goalline and with a pair of the softest hands in the League, he managed to gain control in a crowd, pull it out front and then tap it through Michetti to knot the game.  Wort did not waste too much energy on the play as although the puck crossed the line, it did not have enough steam to get to the back of the net!  The Panthers were not quite done and a Thomas Spink blast from the point with just 39 seconds remaining in the period shocked the crowd and the home squad and gave the Panthers a 3-2 lead after two periods had been completed.  Sparrow and Pelletier were awarded helpers on the play.

Michetti was yanked to start the final stanza after being the victim of three Panthers' markers in the span of exactly three minutes late in the 2nd and he was replaced by backup netminder Knute Loe.  The visitors did not miss a beat.  The Storm came out in the 3rd and pushed for the equalizer but Taylor's line was once again front and centre.  A dogged effort in the Storm end extended the play and Lyon and defenceman Matt Seale played catch a couple times with Thomson Fiddes getting involved as well.  And after a making a few passes and getting the Storm to run around just a bit, Lyon found himself 13 feet out front with the puck and he hit paydirt when he snapped it past Loe for a 4-2 lead. 

The Panthers seemed to take control about midway through the final frame and with under four minutes remaining at the 16:06 mark, Eric Horricks knocked Messer off the puck behind the Panthers net, walked out to the hash marks and tossed the puck onto the stick of Lingard still just inside the defensive end.  Lingard raced down the right side, went around a Storm defenceman inside the Storm blueline and found Sparrow coming through an open area in the slot.  Lingard hit him on the fly and Sparrow blasted the puck past Loe who had no chance on the play.  It would prove to be the last marker of the evening.

The final buzzer sounded and after a short celebration, a happy group of Panthers quietly exited the ice with a convincing 5-2 win under their collective belts and a four-game win streak in tact.

Sparrow for the Panthers and Boxer for the Storm were named Game Stars.  McKillop picked up his 3rd win of the season blocking 24 of 26 shots while Michetti and Loe combined to stop 28 of 33.  Michetti was tagged for the loss.

A post-game meal was enjoyed for the first 30 minutes of the trip home and then the "Rookie Idol" contest began.  All six rookies took turns grabbing the microphone on the bus and singing their song of choice.  Seale's voice cracked and cracked and cracked.  Horricks might consider giving up a career in singing.  Lyon's version of "We are the Champions" definitely needed work.  Pelletier, well, is clearly better at hockey than belting out tunes.  But Thomson-Fiddes and Denver Maloney seemed to steal the show and the Club voted to have the two go head-to-head in a sing-off.  Thomson-Fiddes gave it an effort as did Maloney and when the Master of Ceremonies and Panthers' play-by-play man Will Bryant asked the Club to clap for Thomson-Fiddes if they felt he won, they made as much noise as a church mouse.  And then the bus erupted in laughter.  Maloney was annointed.  A short stop in Nanoose resulted as the Club does when they win on the road and it was then off to points South, Greater Victoria.

Coach Tippett provided some comments on the game during the ride home:

"I would be lying if I said we didn’t have that game circled on the calendar the day the schedule came out. Both teams coming in undefeated only added to the intensity.  I thought both teams played with passion and fire. Last night we were cheating and taking shortcuts. Tonight we were focused and committed —winning races to the puck, blocking shots and back-checking.  Most importantly, we responded from being behind for the first time and had our best third period of the year. It’s early and we still have some work to do."

The Iron Lung came to a stop and the equipment was unloaded and the occupants all bid each other a good night as they disappeared into a wet and dark early morning.  The group was tired but enjoyed every moment of their 12 hours together.

The Panthers will be back at home this Friday at the Panorama Recreation Centre when they hope to run their win streak to five.  The puck drops at 7:30 pm.