Panthers down Generals in a face-off of Divisional leaders with 6-2 road win

October 5th, 2019
Parksville, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers completed a perfect weekend on a balmy Saturday evening in Parksville when they knocked off the Oceanside Generals in a battle of Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League Divisional leaders.  The "Cats" never trailed in the game holding period leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 6-2.  VIJHL leading scorer Matthew Sparrow, Josh Lingard and Jonah Ragsdale each had two markers in the win while Generals 16-year-old rookie sensation Cage Newans had a pair of goals for the home side.  Connor McKillop picked up his 7th win of the early season between the pipes for the Panthers while Generals Cedric Rechsteiner absorbed the loss.  Sparrow and Newans were named Game Stars.

The Generals pushed the pace early in the contest however, a heavy forecheck by Luc Pelletier and Mackenzie Benn-Wipp forced a turnover deep inside the offensive end for the visitors.  Benn-Wipp eventually was able to gain control of the puck behind the Generals cage and he deftly moved it into the slot and onto the stick of Sparrow.  The gifted scorer roofed the disk over the glove hand of Rechsteiner for a 1-0 Panthers lead as the two Clubs approached the midway mark in the 1st stanza.  And then at the 14:30 mark, Lingard won a draw back to Tanner Wort in the face-off circle to the left of Rechsteiner and Wort was able to get off a quick shot on net.  The Generals' netminder left a juicy rebound for Lingard and after the skilled centreman gained control, he swooped away from Rechsteiner and into open ice just at the top of the crease and then deposited the puck into a wide open and vacated cage.  Although both teams exchanged more chances, the score would hold at 2-0 going into the first intermission.

The Generals came marching out in the 2nd frame and it took them only 86 seconds to get on the board.  The Generals broke out of their own zone leaving a pinching Panthers' defenceman Matt Seale in their wake and Brady Kay and Newans raced down the ice for a 2-on-1.  There seemed to be a bit of interference as the two entered the Panthers' zone as Kay became tangled up with Seale's defence partner Hunter Jensen.  The play at the line allowed Newans to romp in all alone and he made no mistake beating McKillop low and on the blocker side from 8 feet out.  The Panthers ran into penalty trouble and the Generals were put onto their 3rd consecutive power play, still early in the 2nd period.  But Lingard and Wort hounded the puck deep in the Generals' zone for approximately 25 seconds before it turned over to Wort in the corner to the left of Rechsteiner.  And at the 5:04 mark, Wort threaded a pass to Lingard who was left all alone 10 feet out and his lazer beam went to the roof of the cage making the water bottle do a cheerful dance in the process.

After four straight Oceanside power play opportunities, it was finally time for the visitors to see the man-advantage.  At the 16:29 mark, Liam Moody was sent off for Hooking and 53 seconds later, Dawson Heathcote would join his mate in the sin bin after he was whistled for Cross-checking Lingard as the two dashed for a loose puck in the neutral zone.  The Panthers tick-tacked the disk a number of times and had a couple of remarkable scoring opportunites before it went back to Lingard on the right point.  Lingard moved the puck to Captain Thomas Spink at the left point and he quickly dished it to Riley Braun sitting low and to the right of Rechsteiner.  Braun picked up Sparrow unguarded in the low slot and the pass was on the mark.  It stayed on Sparrow's stick only for a blink of an eye before it was past the startled Generals' stopper giving the Panthers a comfortable three-goal lead at 4-1.  But the Generals still had a lot of fight left in their collective tank.  Newans engaged in a puck battle with Panthers' defenceman Alex Benger with only 22 seconds remaining in the 2nd period in the corner to the left of McKillop and he was able to move the puck back to the point.  Newans then beat Benger to the net and that effort left Panthers' defenceman Skyler Diamond-Burchuk in an outnumbered situation in front of McKillop.  The Panthers' netminder left a rebound in front on a shot from the point and Newans was able to gobble it up and shovel it past McKillop for a huge marker right at the end of the period to bring the home side within two goals at 4-2 with 40 minutes in the books.

The final frame had a script that was a tale of the trio of Logan Speirs, Denver Maloney and Ragsdale, and their determined effort on the forecheck paid dividends.  The speed of the line sits right at or near the top of the League and they were finally able to realize the results that everyone in the Panthers' Organization have been looking for.  At the 2:55 mark, a dominant forecheck turned the puck over to the left of Rechsteiner and Speirs walked in from the half-wall towards the goaltender.  A gentle feed hit Ragsdale in the sweet spot and he ripped the puck to the back of the net for a 5-2 Panthers' lead.  And the trio struck again and with the same M.O. when at the 11:59 mark, Speirs was able to get the puck on the forecheck and move it to Ragsdale, this time from in the corner to the right of the Generals' goaltender.  Ragsdale dashed to the front and slid a shot through Rechsteiner for the Panthers' 6th of the night, the insurance marker the Club had been looking for.  As the Panthers lined up to take the face-off at Centre Ice, Rechsteiner was skating to the Generals' bench after getting the hook in favour of James Brendeland.

The game clock began to wind down but there was still time for one nasty incident.  At the 17:30 mark and with the game completely decided, Sparrow picked up the puck just inside the Generals' zone near the blueline and only several feet from the wall.  Generals' Will Norman took a couple strides and appeared to hit Sparrow directly in the numbers for a nasty hit and that resulted in Sparrow being launched dangerously into the boards and glass.  Benn-Wipp skated over coming to the aid of his line mate and roughed up Norman however, surprisingly he would be the only player to be penalized.

"I thought the hit was as dangerous as they come," said Pete Zubersky.  "I looked at Norman's stats after the game and judging by his past history he does not appear to be that kind of player.  After saying that, I am absolutely thrilled that Sparrow was not seriously hurt on the play.  It was extremely dangerous in my opinion.  It was exactly the type of hit we are trying to get rid of in the game."

Coach Tippett detailed his thoughts on the game just outside the dressing room after having addressed his troops:

"I like the way we approached this game - little rah rah - just let’s go out and get the job done. We knew this would be a special teams battle as they had #1 home ice PP and we had #1 away PK. Our Road PP was #2 and their home PK was #1.  We clicked on ours, stuffed theirs, and potted another short-handed goal.  There were no passengers tonight. It was a solid effort and a much better effort from the Road Runner line of Maloney, Speirs and Ragsdale. Our Defence made savvy decisions with the puck and defended well. McKillop was - McKillop - he just stopped the puck and made saves at key times."

The Panthers head to Nanaimo on Thursday evening and then will be right back to the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre when they will host the same Generals Club.  The puck is set to drop at 7:30 pm.