Panthers could not blow out the Storm and drop a gut-wrenching 2-1 shootout decision

October 22, 2021
North Saanich, British Columbia

If you were one of the fans who decided to grace the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre, the choice you made was a great one.  And so was the 60 minutes of Regulation and 5 additional minutes of overtime up and down the ice action between the visiting Campbell River Storm and the 'Cats' from the Peninsula.  And although there should have been two winners with how the game ultimately unfolded, it was the Storm who would add another notch to their belt winning the heart-stopper on the final shot of the game in a shootout win.

The evening's festivities got under way when General Manager went onto the ice and spoke on the 20-year-Anniversary of the tragic death of Steve Simpson which occurred in the early morning hours of November 2nd, 2001.  Zubersky explained how Steve's cousin Mike was a young 16-year-old playing for the Panthers at the time and would not allow for the General Manager to pull him from the lineup only 17 hours after Steve's life had been taken from us all.  Bringing it all full circle was Mike's eight year old son Levi who was the 'Player of the Week' for the game.  And then Zubersky spoke about the untimely passing of 22-year volunteer photographer Gordon Lee who passed away while in his home on Saturday at the much too young age of 65.  A slide flashed up on the large screen at the North end of the Arena of Lee as the GM spoke about how much he had meant to the Organization as a professional and as a friend.  And his older brother Wyman Lee came out onto the large white canvas and offered up his comments on Gordon and on his work.

The two ambled off the ice as the two Clubs sent their starting lineups out onto their respective bluelines, joined of course by the young Simpson.  And after introductions and after Levi Simpson scampered around the entire sheet as he was being introduced to the crowd, players and fans alike waited for the singing of the National Anthem.  Panthers' singer Brendan Dawes was not able to attend due to illness and there were problems with the canned version of the National Anthem and it could not be played.  And that was the only thing that was anywhere near being off key as the rest of the evening was an absolute delight.

Bench Boss Brad Tippett worked hard during the game and it was in the hallway just outside his office only minutes after the contest had ended in dramatic fashion that he offered up his thoughts.

"Anyone who witnessed the game last certainly got their money's worth. Len Dawes walked down the bench towards me about halfway through the first period and commented about the extremely high pace and execution by both teams. As coaches, we were fortune enough to have the best seats in the house. I thought the 2^nd period against WS on Wednesday was our best period of the year as a team. Tonight’s first period was even better and overall this was our best game as a team. CR comes in here 14-0 and with a full line-up. We have played 11 games in the last 22 days and have 6 players in the stands with injuries. We had more guys committed to just doing their job.  Owen Cox played his best game as a Panther and is emerging as a power forward. The power play scored a beauty on great execution. The video prep and tenacious checking shut down their PP and we got saves at key times. We could not have asked for much more from our group. We have done a good job in finding positives and building on them, even if the score did not reflect the effort."

Goaltender Ashton Lukan, who was making his 5th straight start between the pipes after joining the Club only ten days earlier, played his best game in his tenure with the 'Cats" while Storm netminder Nick Peters was every bit as good.  The two teams exchanged chances with the Panthers holding a 14-3 shots advantage in the first frame, but neither backstop could be solved as the two Clubs skated to the dressing room.  

The Panthers only had one power play opportunity in the game and it occurred when the Storm's Angus Allchin was sent to the sin bin on a hooking call at the 12:43 mark of the 2nd period.  But he did not have to stay in long.  The Panthers power play went to work and went to work they did!  And at the 13:25 mark, Captain Riley Braun gathered in a pass on the left hash marks and relayed the disk down to Logan Speirs who was situated several feet to the right of the visitor's cage.  Speirs quickly snapped a pass to Payton Braun and he whipped a shot past a startled Peters to open the scoring on the evening.

Newcomer for the home side Tristan Rosenblood used his stick to clear a Storm attacker from the crease area of Lukan and at the 17:17 mark, it was his turn to go to his room for two minutes for cross checking.  There were no significant chances on Lukan during the Rosenblood penalty however it looked like disaster might have struck at the 18:44 mark when Power Forward Owen Cox was sent to join Rosenblood for a fireside chat after being tagged for an interference penalty.  Fans in the stands were wondering what happened when a visitor's stick went hurtling ten feet in the air in front of Lukan.  Replay showed that Cox had forcefully lifted the stick with his own stick, a clear mistake but probably the only one he made through the entire contest.  The Panthers killed off the Rosenblood penalty and only 44 ticks into the 3rd stanza, Cox gleefully came back out onto the sheet without the Panthers ship taking on water.

At the 4:24 mark of the 3rd period, the Storm raced down the ice on a 2 on 1 after Panthers' defenceman Reid Fryer tried to corral a high clearing attempt just outside the Storm zone.  The puck went just inches over the 6'2" rearguard and sent Justin Gyori and Tynan Peacock away with only one defender back to hold the fort.  Gyori moved the puck to Peacock deep inside the Panthers' zone and he completed a nifty play depositing the disk behind Lukan.

Nothing else would be solved in the remaining 15:36 and an additional five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime had the same result.  And with the game tied at 1-1 and with the shootout tied at 1-1 it came down to the 3rd and final attempt by the Storm Captain Nolan Corrado.  The big 20-year-old forward came in slowly on Lukan and when he snapped the puck to the back of the net, a hushed crowd sat in their seats for what seemed like an eternity as the Storm players spilled from their bench to mob Corrado.

Peters blocked 33 of 34 shots in collecting the win while Lucan knocked down 19 of 20 in a losing effort.  Peters was awarded the Storm's Player of the Game while Cox's picture flashed up on the big screen when he was announced as the 'Cats' selection.

The Club will travel to Saanich to face the Predators Sunday afternoon and will be back for some home cooking next Friday night at 7:30 pm when they welcome in the expansion Port Alberni Bombers for their only visit of the season.  There will be no cap on attendance as the PHO has lifted the restrictions to full capacity for indoor events.  If next Friday is anything like this Friday, fans will once again be in for a huge treat.  Please bring a non-perishable food item to the game to help those less fortunate and in need.