Panthers all smiles going into Christmas Break

December 18, 2021
Oceanside, British Columbia

Saturday was an almost perfect day for the Peninsula Panthers as they headed into a 10-day Christmas Break with a 6-1 road win over a gritty and determined Oceanside Generals squad. After 20 minutes, the Club held a slim 2-1 lead but they gave the Generals their marching orders the rest of the way.  And with four long honks from their bus driver Billy Geddie while passing by the front of the Oceanside Place Arena, the Cats departed the parking lot for points south with two of the other kind of points secured deeply in their back pockets. The Club has now garnered 27 of a possible 30 points in their previous 15 games.

The day started out around 3:00 pm when the bus was loaded with most of the players, several other scheduled to be picked up at the Goldstream Shell Service Station. And when that stop was made and the Iron Lung was heading North, 16-year-old Ethan Lingard went into action. The big, young rookie forward has been in charge of taking food orders for each return trip this season and today would be no different. Lingard was given the choices for the day, and it was pretty basic - either Spaghetti and Meatballs or Chicken Alfredo which had been pre-arranged the night before. Lingard quickly relayed the numbers to Pete Zubersky and it came in at 20 Chicken, 5 Meatball for the 27 players and staff on the bus. Zubersky used all of his fingers several times and was pretty sure the numbers didn't compute, it was almost the only thing that went wrong on the day. Lingard hastily used his pencil and eraser and came up with 5 Meatball and 22 Chicken and the order was placed to Boston Pizza in Parksville only minutes later with a pickup time for 10:00 pm.

It had snowed up Island in the Nanaimo area overnight but then later Saturday morning, hard rains cleaned up the white stuff and it was summer driving both up and down the Island Highway. The Club had to wait a few extra minutes for the arrival of Affiliated Defenceman Malcolm Fletcher as he had been playing earlier in the day with his Peninsula Midget Club, and those minutes parlayed into pushing the arrival at Oceanside Place back just a bit. But it was not a concern and 20 Cats began preparing for a game which they considered to be a significant one. The Generals had come back late in the game a couple of weeks ago and won in a shootout in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre. That loss did not sit well, but more important was the two points which were up for grabs directly ahead of them.

With the sticks and some shoulders and wrists all taped and with the ice freshly greased, the Cats headed out for the warmup, a lively warmup at that. And after heading back to their dressing room and getting some last minute instructions from the Coaching Staff, they ventured back out onto the big white sheet in anticipation of the puck dropping just after 7:00 pm. As a group, they had decided that their Christmas Break would not start until 10:00 pm and they played like they meant it.

The visitors struck early on the first shift of the game when VIJHL leading scorer Riley Braun took a pass from the streaking Logan Speirs and made no mistake to draw first blood only 24 seconds into the game. And at the 15:30 mark, Ryan Grambart took a feed from Owen Cox and Tanner Banks to give the Cats a 2-0 lead. It would not last long. At the 18:21 mark, Grant Gilbertson took control of the puck on the left wall in his own zone and took two strides to the blueline. An easy chip off the wall was available however, he decided to make a risky cross-ice pass and that proved not to be a decision which is conducive to winning. Generals' sniper Carter Johnson intercepted the pass, walked right down Main Street and pumped the disk behind Panthers' starter Ashton Lukan to make it a one-goal game.

Head Coach Brad Tippett has been away from the Club for the past two weeks and is set to return when the Club opens up at home on December 29th against the Kerry Park Islanders. Zubersky has jumped onto the bench to help Coaches Len Dawes and Bill Ansell and Zubersky, like the other two, were not happy with the unforced turnover which put the Generals right back into the contest. "It is something we have really been demanding the last few games," quipped Zubersky. "I hated the play but I mistakenly thought that it was Hunter Jensen and I was clearly wrong. When Hunter came to the bench, I barked at him and he barked a little bit and then we moved on. The message was clear to the whole team though. What I thought showed tremendous leadership is 'Jenny' not throwing anyone under the bus, although I am sure he was doing a lot of muttering under his breath. Hunter has been really tightening up his game lately and last night he along with our entire defence corps were really quite outstanding in this game. Our forwards were absolutely flying and our defence were getting them the pucks in full flight in the neutral zone. I cannot think how many times I just thought to myself, 'Wow!' Our speed is our key and we used it Saturday night."

The Generals took an early four-minute slew-foot penalty in the middle frame and the Panthers pounced on the opportunity. Jensen scored on the first of two minor penalties when he drifted a shot from the point that the Generals netminder did not see. And then Speirs notched one on the second of two minor penalties and with only 3:37 having been played in the period, the boys from the Peninsula suddenly held a 4-1 lead. Gilbertson atoned for his earlier mistake, scoring at the 13:09 mark and then he added another in the final frame with only three minutes remaining to sink the final nail in the Generals' coffin for a dominating 6-1 win. Lukan picked up the win and Speirs was named the Player of the Game.

It was a loud dressing room after the game, the Christmas Break had just begun. Goalies Lukan and Brady Kelly's thoughts shifted to their flights home to Edmonton, Alberta and Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, although clearly the trip to Duck Lake for Kelly was much more involved than Lukan's non-stop flight. And Davey Moody was preparing to jump on an early boat Sunday morning to join his family in the Lower Mainland for Christmas.

As the bus rolled South, the noise - although not deafening - was certainly significant. There was a lot of laughter and comradery, something that the game brings to players that the fans of the game unfortunately do not have the opportunity to see. The players and staff ate their post-game meals and as is a tradition with the Club for wins on the road, a stop was made at the 7-11 in Duncan for each player to pick out a sweet treat or two. Zubersky could not help but notice a large group of homeless outside of the establishment. "Our kids are so fortunate and we talked about it on the final leg home after the stop in Duncan. Without the family support from parents, both financially and emotionally, none of these guys would have reached this level.  Seeing the homeless shivering in the cold and thinking about the Christmas Season, really brings everything back into perspective.  We play a game we love to play but there are people who are just trying to figure out where their next piece of bread is coming from.  I think that picture helps our players appreciate where they come from and who have been the significant people in their lives."

The Panthers will be back in action after Christmas when they host the Islanders at the Panorama Recreation Centre at 7:30 pm.  Fans are reminded that this is a Wednesday night game during the holidays and there will be no game on Friday, New Year's Eve.  A good crowd is expected to be on hand and the Club is looking to keeping the good times and the big smiles coming.

Pete and Coreen Zubersky and the entire Peninsula Panthers Organization wish you and yours all the best for this Christmas season.