Panthers in 7th Heaven with come-from-behind 5-4 Overtime win!

November 19, 2021
North Saanich, British Columbia

Anyone on the Saanich Peninsula who is even remotely a hockey fan and who was not in attendance in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre on Friday night to witness the contest between the Peninsula Panthers and the visiting Westshore Wolves, simply missed the boat.  This was by far the most exciting game in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League this season.  Fans in attendance did not need their entire seat but simply the edge as that is where they were most likely perched for the 60 minutes of regulation and another 40 seconds of overtime before the game was to produce a winner.  And it was the 'Cats' who would prevail 5-4 on a semi-breakaway and goal off the stick of 20-year-old veteran Logan Speirs.  Wow!  It was the Panthers 7th win in a row and undoubtedly left them feeling in "7th Heaven."

There was a whole lot more to the up and down game, an affair that was certainly not a contest for the faint of heart.  Head Coach and General Manager Brad Tippett was a bit red-faced like every other person with a heartbeat in attendance and was cornered outside his dressing room after addressing a happy group of warriors.

"We started out very slow - like we were skating in quicksand. I think it was a bit of a hangover from the emotional game last night. We  just couldn’t seem to get started. We gave up a couple goals late in the first. There was really soft coverage and no pressure. We chatted between periods about the fact we have a week off and so our group just agreed that it was time to just go hard for 40 minutes and see how the chips fell. I thought we got a little bit better every shift  in the second period and put up 22 shots on their goaltender. We had some good chances but a lot of the shots seemed like they were hitting him rather than him being forced to make a save. The momentum started swinging our way and the trend continued into the third. I thought we battled hard. There were a couple of controversial plays but the harder you work, the luckier you get. We earned a break or two and we deserved them. I was really happy with the drive and no-quit attitude that was on the bench. This was definitely a team effort. We had players playing through injuries and playing hurt.  We had guys who stepped into roles they were unaccustomed to and they responded and played well. Robson Scott played his best game as a Panther. Lukan maybe wanted one or two of those goals back but he made some exceptional saves at key times. We got secondary scoring and some willingness from our group to put their body on the line. We will take these days to heal up both physically and mentally. Getting two wins the past two nights over two good teams with 7 regulars out of the lineup is something we can be proud of."

The visitors opened up a 3-1 first period lead after 20 minutes were in the books on goals by Brett Herle, Elijah Goyer and Andy Westhaver while Payton Braun replied for the Panthers.  The Wolves were full value for the two-goal lead as the home side seemed somewhat sluggish, perhaps having spent a lot of their emotion the evening before in Victoria against the Cougars. 

Tippett addressed his troops between periods and a new and improved squad turned up to start the middle frame.  And it was all Panthers, although the lone marksman was Tanner Banks who completed a play with the help of Riley Braun and Logan Speirs.  For Speirs, the assist on the goal was his 27th straight game this season that he has tallied at least a single point.  The Panthers were playing in their 27th game of the sesaon.

Speedy Aleko Sdrakas who seems to understand as of late that he needs to be a leader on the Club, drove to the net and beat Wolves Goaltender Andrew Palm knotting the game at 3-3 at the 5:10 mark of the final stanza on a nice feed from Grant Gilbertson.  Robson Scott picked up the 2nd assist on the goal, some icing on the cake for the big defenceman who has been asked by the Coaching Staff to play a more physical game and stepped it up in this area a number of times.  And for a short-staffed squad on the evening, his contributions made a difference in the win.  But the Panthers ran into some penalty problems late in the stanza and at the 14:17 mark, a lazer beam to the top corner from the wall at the hash marks blitzed past a startled Ashton Lukan in goal for the 'Cats' to give the visitors a 4-3 lead.  The Panthers pushed for the equalizer and with just over a minute remaining in the game, Tippett pulled Lukan for an extra attacker.  The Panthers had a number of chances but Palm was equal to the task.  The Wolves took a penalty for interference with only 9.9 seconds remaining in the game, but most in attendance did not feel like it would be a factor in the outcome.  Tippett called a timeout and brought out the whiteboard to draw up a play and he sent out six attackers to the Wolves four defenders.  Speirs won the draw and the puck moved to Seale at the point and then over to Riley Braun on the half wall to the right of Palm.  Braun sent a pass through the seam onto the stick of Speirs but his shot was turned aside by Palm with under three seconds remaining.  Speirs and Denver Maloney rushed to the puck behind the net and Speirs moved it to Gilbertson to the left of Palm.  Gilbertson jammed away at the disk and it popped to the middle of the crease to Payton Braun who had no time to do anything but jam it towards the net from 10 inches.  And it found paydirt with only 0.1 seconds remaining to send the game to the extra frame.

The three-on-three extra frame started with Speirs winning the draw to Seale and after skating a couple of miles, the talented defenceman found himself to the right of Lukan with time and space.  He spotted Speirs breaking out of the Panthers zone and threw the puck off the wall and into the neutral zone where a lurking Payton Braun drew a defender to him and then deftly tipped the puck to Speirs who was hurtling towards Palm.  Speirs picked up the disk and although another Wolves defender was closing ground, he was still able to wheel to the high slot before snapping a shot that found nothing but net and water bottle, much to the shagrin of Palm.  The Panthers bench spilled over the wall and joined Speirs in celebration at the half wall to the left of the vacated Wolves net.

Speirs and Jack Westhaver for the Wolves were named as the Players of the Game for their respective sides.  Lukan picked up the win blocking 37 of 41 scoring attempts while Palm knocked down 43 of 48 pucks thrown in his direction.

The Panthers will have a week of practice and will get some of the walking wounded back for next Friday night when they host the incoming and suddenly hot Oceanside Generals at 7:30 pm.  But at least for tonight, the collective squad will sit back and enjoy what can truly be classified as a heart-stopping win.