Panthers clawed in Home Opener

September 11, 2021
North Saanich, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers Home Opener on Friday night did not go as planned as the local 'Cats' were dispatched by the visiting Victoria Cougars by a tidy 4-1 count.  Ethan Roworth, Dylan Jessa and Jackson Estey gave the Cougars a 3-0 lead by the end of the first frame and that initial 20 minutes proved to be too much of a hill to climb for the Panthers.

The Panthers came out with some energy in the 2nd period, something that was clearly and unexplainably missing in the opening stanza but it was the visitors who would extend their lead when at the 15:31 mark, John Esposito extended the lead to 4-0 beating Panthers' rookie netminder Rogan Bacon.  The Panthers got on the board with just a minute left in the period when Logan Speirs ripped a shot at Cougars netminder Fraser Wyatt who turned the attempt away.  Defenceman Matt Seale drifted in from the point and found the rebound on his stick with a wide open and inviting cage just ten feet away.  He made no mistake.  Denver Maloney was awarded the 2nd assist on Seale's tally and it would prove to be the final goal in the contest.

Panthers Bench Boss Brad Tippett addressed his troops and then provided some insight as to what he had seen over the 60 minutes of play.

"Obviously this was not the start to the season we had envisioned," explained Tippett as the loss on Friday came on the heels of another loss to the Cougars in their Home Opener 24 hours earlier. 

"There are always lofty expectations.  Some of those expectations were met and some were not.  There were aspects we had questions about. Some got positive answers and some didn’t.  Early in the season we are teaching systems, tactics and trying to find out who fits together.  I’ll take responsibility for the fact we maybe have placed too much emphasis on that and not enough on simple combative drills. The fact is while we want players to understand the who, what, why, where, when and how —- if you don’t get to the puck first, it doesn’t really matter.  Being happy with the silver or the bronze is not acceptable. We did have stretches when our “compete level” was where it should be. The issue was we were down before it kicked in."

The Club will travel to Westshore on Wednesday night and will return to the confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre next Friday to complete the back end of the home-and-home two-game series with the Wolves.  

Panthers Tracks.....There were a number of positives in the game including the emergence of Bacon....The 17-year-old goaltender was making his first start of his Junior career and his play throughout the contest gave Head Coach Brad Tippett reason to feel comfortable moving forward....Newly appointed Captain Riley Braun was out with an undisclosed injury but it appears as though his time on the shelf will not be protracted....also out with injuries were speedy forward Aleko Sdrakas and solid and dependable defenceman Evan Crawford....Moving forward, all persons coming to games in the VIJHL will require proof of vaccination and by October 24 will have to provide proof of double vaccination....puck drops at 7:30 pm on Friday.