Let the Games begin as Panthers end Regular Season on a winning note - Playoffs open at Home Monday night

February 21, 2002
North Saanich, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers went into their final Regular Season game Friday night at home against the Westshore Wolves void of a number of regulars.  In search of their 35th win in what has been the best Regular Season in the history of the Club, there were also some other targets of interest.  Tanner Wort needed just one goal and just two points to eclipse the Panthers all-time Regular Season goal and point total.  And Josh Lingard needed only two points to move into 3rd place overall in scoring which would also give the Panthers the VIJHL's top three point leaders with Wort having locked up the title a couple weeks ago and line mate Riley Braun sitting solidly in 2nd.  But the Westshore Wolves have also had a wonderful season racking up close to 30 wins and highlighting their rookie sensation 17-year-old Chase Klassen.  Making the game even a bit more intriguing was the fact that the two squads will go head-to-head in the Best-of-7 series starting Monday night, a match-up that already promises to be the one to watch in Round 1 of the VIJHL playoffs.

Friday night the Panthers were missing defenceman Skyler Diamond-Burchuk and his partner Stefan Grunert who broke his foot after catching a puck in the foot in practice six weeks ago was only back for his first game after the injury.  Grunert had only started practicing this past week.  Coach Tippett and the medical staff were looking to give him another week but the gritty defenceman and the medical staff jointly decided that he could go.  Diamond-Burchuk had been away in Japan last week and and once again this weekend in Quebec City competing in the Red Bull Crashed Ice Series and was not slated to arrive back on the Peninsula until Sunday.  Forwards Denver Maloney, Logan Speirs and Lucas Thomson-Fiddes all could have played however they too have been nursing injuries and were kept out of the game.  Mackenzie Benn-Wipp whose play as of late has greatly improved was suspended after being whistled on a boarderline hit last Monday and as a result was tagged with a two-game suspension.  He will also miss Game 1 of the playoffs Monday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre.  And finally, Braun was out of the lineup as he had to head to Vancouver on Friday to prepare to write an important exam early Saturday morning.  Tippett called up affiliate players to help out for the game, three forwards including Braun's 'Little' but bigger brother Payton, Owen Cox and Matthais Raschdorf and defenceman Griffin Gilmour.

"Every game is important but I was looking more at making sure that we came out of the affair with no injuries or suspensions," explained GM Pete Zubersky.  "We play these guys Monday night and I expect it will be a long series.  We have had a great year and so have the Wolves.  I know a lot of people that are looking forward to Game 1.  I really wanted to see Wort score at least one more and perhaps add a couple assists to give him the Panthers All-time lead in goals and points in a single season and I was hoping Lingard could get a couple points to move into 3rd in League Scoring.  I know that the fans were also really into it, it made for a lot of great storylines, no doubt about that."

Goaltender Andrew Rocha made the start for the Panthers and was outstanding over the 60 minutes racking up the 5-1 win while his counterpart between the pipes in Jacob Haydar absorbed the loss.  Rocha made a number of key saves in the 1st period as the Wolves dominated early but the two Teams skated to the dressing room after 20 minutes still knotted at 0-0.

It was all Panthers in the middle stanza.  Grunert opened the scoring at the 1:23 mark followed six minutes later with a bullet off the stick of Hunter Jensen.  And then only 48 seconds later and at the 8:16 mark the fans all got the reward they came to see when Wort beat Haydar from in close on helpers from Lingard and Jonah Ragsdale.  Drew Coughlin tipped in a Jensen shot at the 12:53 mark while on the power play and with Rocha looking like a 4x6 sheet of plywood purchased from Slegg, the game appeared to be over.

Ben Duffin beat Rocha midway through the final stanza however Luc Pelletier scored his 18th goal of the season to give the Panthers the four-goal lead once again.  The only thing left to see was if Wort and Lingard could get one more point each.  And they had chances.  Wort had two breakaway opportunities but Haydar did not want to be the answer to a trivia question and stoned him both times.  With just over a minute to go Head Coach Brad Tippett decided to pull Rocha in an effort to help his two snipers each achieve a personal goal however the buzzer sounded with no further scoring.

Rocha and Wort addressed a solid crowd after the game and did not focus on themselves but rather the upcoming playoffs.  Many of the fans that had gathered for the game hung around to hear the comments of two key pieces of the Peninsula Panthers puzzle and then departed with smiles already looking forward to Game 1 on Monday.

Head Coach Brad Tippett was caught for some comments after his troops had departed the rink and just as he was about to slip away into the darkness of the night.

"Our practice times of Monday and Tuesday evenings are the best in the league for school, travel, work and balance. A 20-4 home record has left many teams not that enthusiastic about their Friday night visits to Panorama. The only issue we need to constantly worry about is a sluggish start after being off the ice for a couple days. Sometimes, like tonight,  it takes a period to get back in sync. I thought our second period was maybe our best period in the last couple of weeks.  WS has a good team. They skate well, attack well and block a ton of shots. I thought we found a way to crank up the intensity to a higher level - a level we will need every period starting Monday.
 Taylor, Lyon and Grunert really turned the momentum around with some gritty shifts and were rewarded with a goal. The four young players - Owen Cox, Mattias Raschdorf, Payton Braun and Griffin Gilmour - we dressed this evening all played well. We thought our defence really defended well and were able to move the puck quickly and to the safe option. Rocha has his best start as well. Just a real positive way to finish the regular season. We will practice Sunday afternoon and get ready for the season we have been anxiously waiting for."

The Panthers will hold their Awards Banquet on Saturday evening at the Mary Winspear Centre starting at 6:00 pm, will practice Sunday afternoon and will then get back to business on Monday evening with the puck set to drop at 7:30 pm.