Panthers drop 2-0 decision to the visiting Victoria Cougars

February 7th, 2020
North Saanich, B.C.

Peninsula Panthers Head Coach Brad Tippett arrived at the Panorama Recreation Centre almost a full three hours before game time on Friday night but judging from the way he was moving around in the tunnel underneath the stands, he would not last long.  Tippett had been having issues with his back as of late and it looked like he would have been better served stretching out at home.  He wobbled around until his troops arrived and then after addressing them in a meeting before heading home leaving the coaching duties to Assistant Coaches Jackson Skerratt and Len Dawes.  

As an outsider looking in there was not much different.  Both the visiting Victoria Cougars and the Panthers came out onto the ice for the 15-minute warmup at 7:00 pm and were back out ready for the puck to drop at 7:30 pm.  And it was around that time that fans in the stands noticed that Tippett was not in his usual position behind the bench, the first time in four years that illness has caused him to be away.

"Coach is a real trooper," quipped GM Pete Zubersky.  "He should not have been anywhere near the rink but nobody cares about this Club like he does.  He is a crucial piece of what we do out here and has been for a long time.  I could feel his pain watching him move around before the game, the man really cares about the Club and about every single player in our room and he demonstrated that today by simply showing up.  It was not pretty."

The Cougars outshot - 10 to 5 - and outplayed the local Cats and were by far the more physical team over the first 20 minutes of the game.  But some key saves by Panthers starter Connor McKillop and by Cougars netminder Brett Anderson kept both squads off the scoresheet going into the intermission.  In the final 40 minutes the Panthers were the better of the two teams and won in most areas of the game except where it matters, on the scoreboard.

Jude Wessel opened the scoring early in the 2nd frame when he beat McKillop from in tight.  And then midway through the final stanza Davis Frank gave the visitors a two-goal lead when he roofed a shot past the Panthers netminder from in tight.  But the rest of the evening belonged to Anderson who was nothing short of stellar in nailing down the shutout and the win.  The Panthers outshot the Cougars 10-5 and 13-7 in the final two periods, many brilliant scoring opportunities, however Anderson was up to the task every time.

The Panthers outshot the Cougars 28-22.  Drew Coughlin played a physical affair and was named the Player of the Game for the home side while Anderson was an easy and obvious choice for the visitors.

"I thought that the past two games showed our room what the playoffs will be like," explained Zubersky.  "We lost in Victoria 2-1 last Sunday and then 2-0 here at home tonight.  We have said it all season long that the scores will be low and the games will be tight come playoffs.  When scores are low every player matters more, every play matters more. Physical guys are just as important as offensive players.  Defence becomes more and more important as each game ticks by. Every game in the playoffs gets tougher to win.  Most often the team who has the will to win the most usually does.  Only one team will win their last game, that's it.  We believe we have the horses here to win our last game and each guy will be counted on to do his job and to play his role.  The team that wins will have simplified their game, have got pucks out and have got pucks in. Even though we did not finish at the net tonight, I thought we did a lot of good things that playoff teams need to do.

The Panthers head to Mill Bay to take on the Kerry Park Islanders Saturday and then are at the Q Centre on Wednesday to battle the Westshore Wolves.  The Club will be back home next Friday night when they welcome in the Wolves for the back end of a mini home-and-home series with the puck set to drop at 7:30 pm