Tippett prepared for unprecedented season - His 5th as Panthers' Bench Boss

September 3rd, 2020
North Saanich, British Columbia

In the early evening hours on March 11th, 2020 NBA Utah Jazz Centre Rudy Gobert tested positive for the Covid19 virus.  It was a shot literally heard around the world as everything including the sports world came to a screeching halt.  The Peninsula Panthers were playing in Game 2 of the Best-of-7 series in Esquimalt.  It was a Tuesday night.  By Friday, the Panthers squad was meeting at the Panorama Recreation Centre to bid their final adieu to each other as BC Hockey and Hockey Canada had cancelled the sport in the Country for the season.  

Today everything has changed and as we navigate through Grocery Stores and other indoor spaces, masked people are everywhere.  It is now acceptable to wear a mask into a bank!  How times have changed.

But there does appear to be some normalacy just around the corner as the Governors of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League have been in meeting after meeting after meeting and now believe that they can start a regular season either on the week starting September 21st or 28th.  There will be restrictions and protocols in place as demanded by the different Government Agencies and at this point, many of the agencies are still trying to get on the same page in terms of the number of fans who might be in attendance.  But there is a lot of excitement as the Panthers try and prepare as if this were just another season.

"Coach has done an outstanding job navigating the ship through some rough waters," explained GM Pete Zubersky.  "We have had a lot of ice and some real quality players out on it and tonight we should be just about at the point where we have nailed down our opening day roster.  We will be playing the Victoria Cougars for the first number of games to open the season and so a heated rivalry that has developed over the years will not have to wait to be rekindled.  The juices should be flowing quickly and the kids that are new to the League will be thrown into the fire right away.  I would guess we will open in Victoria on the Thursday of the opening week and will be back for our home opener right here in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre on the Friday."

Tippett will have some nice tools in his tool kit to open the Regular Season.  The VIJHL's trio of Tanner Wort, Josh Lingard and Riley Braun made up the top offensive combination in the League.  And Centreman Logan Speirs along with Denver Maloney and perhaps 17-year-old Lucas Thomson-Fiddes look to take a gigantic step in the offensive department.  Twenty-year-old Goaltender Brayden Evans, who has just recently relocated from Edmonton to the Greater Victoria area, looks like the odds-on favourite to be the opening night starter between the pipes.

The Club will reintroduce the returning players and welcome in the newest and talented additions in the next three weeks to come right here on this site.