Cats close out Regular Season with Awards Dinner Saturday night at the Mary Winspear Centre

February 22, 2020
Sidney, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers players, coaching staff, management, volunteers, billets and fans all attended to the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney Saturday evening for the Annual Awards Banquet.  After a fantastic meal by Chef Graham Little and Island Culinary Service, all sat back with some dessert and a coffee and watched the awards unfold. 

Tanner Wort was the Top Scorer on the Club this season and was also the Top Scorer in the VIJHL with 42 goals and 44 assists for 86 points.  His goal total is the highest Regular Season total by any previous Panthers player, while his total points fell one short to break the single season mark of 87 set by Evan Campbell in the 2010/11 season.

Wort and line mates Josh Lingard and Riley Braun were co-winners of the Most Valuable Player award and rightly so.  The trio were the top line in the VIJHL this season and it would have been impossible to pick one over the other. 

Six Panthers picked up an award for scoring their 1st Career Junior goal including Hunter Jensen, Sterling Lyon, Lucas Thomson-Fiddes, Denver Maloney, Luc Pelletier and Eric Horricks.

The following is the complete list of award winners on the evening:

Top Scorer - Tanner Wort
Most Valuable Player - Josh Lingard, Tanner Wort & Riley Braun
Rookie of the Year - Matthew Seale and Luc Pelletier
Best Defenceman - Skyler Diamond-Burchuk & Thomas Spink
Steve Simpson Memorial "Character, Courage & Heart - Skyler Diamond-Burchuk
Community Leadership - Connor McKillop
Most Improved - Denver Maloney & Lucas Thomson-Fiddes
Most Sportsmanlike - Logan Speirs
Unsung Hero - Connor McKillop
Fan Favourite - Alexander Benger
Scholastic Achievement - Hunter Jensen & Riley Braun
Volunteer of the Year - Ken Charlish
Playoff Performer - To be determined

The Panthers will practice Sunday afternoon and then the puck will drop for real Monday evening at 7:30 pm when the Panthers welcome in the Westshore Wolves for Round 1, Game 1 of the Best-of-7 series.