Wolves pound Panthers 7-4

February 12th, 2020
Colwood, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers and Westshore Wolves are on a collision course, there is no sugar coating it and there is no way around it.  The two will go head-to-head in the VIJHL Round 1 Best-of-7 series and that fact made their game at the Q Centre Wednesday night all that more interesting.  And for that same reason, it will make the game on Friday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre intriguing as well.

The Panthers were knocked off 7-4 by the home side on Wednesday in a barn that they have struggled in for quite some time.  Although they outshot the Wolves quite significantly by a 40-25 count, the Wolves prevailed in the only place that mattered, on the scoreboard.

"It's hard to explain," quipped Panthers' General Manager Pete Zubersky after the game.  "They really have had our number in their barn and back home we are golden.  We stumbled right out of the chutes and although we took over for parts of the game, we had just dug ourselves too deep a hole to get out.  Give them credit.  They have a good squad over there and we have our hands full against them.  I think that there are a couple 1st Round series that will be over quickly.  I don't think this is one of them."

The Wolves built a 4-0 lead on 11 shots, a lead they would not give up at any time over the 60 minutes.  Panthers' netminder Andrew Rocha was making his 1st start at the Q Centre and most likely was looking for a much better result than he posted.  The Panthers had 13 shots on Wolves' starter Dalan Marleau in the first frame when the game was on the line and he was a perfect 13 for 13.  Scoring for the Wolves were Tyler Chyzowski, Chase Klassen, Blake Bentham and Caleb Parkhouse.  

The Cats outshot the Wolves 17-8 in the middle stanza and managed to score a couple markers in the process.  Denver Maloney got the Panthers onto the scoresheet only 1:07 in and on the power play on helpers from Riley Braun and Tanner Wort however, Chyzowski replied only 94 seconds later.  Mackenzie Benn-Wipp had three great scoring chances in the 2nd frame and finished on one of them.  Benn-Wipp powered his way past a Wolves' defender as he sped down the left side, cut in and got to the net, but appeared as though he had been thwarted by Marleau.  But the power-forward hammered in the loose puck in what was hopefully a sign of things to come in the future for Benn-Wipp.

The two squads exchanged a pair of 3rd period goals.  Chyzowski added his 3rd on the night only 17 seconds in, and Tristan Jones closed out the scoring at the 12:50 mark. Sandwiched in between were two Josh Lingard goals but it was simply the case of too little too late.

The two squads will meet again at the Panorama Recreation Centre Friday night - a game in which the Panthers are looking to turn the tables.  The Cats are 18-3 at home and will be looking to extend that record.  The puck drops at 7:30 pm.