(Six-Shooters) Panthers extend win streak to 6

Wednesday December 29, 2021
North Saanich, British Columbia

Right around 7:30 pm, the smokies were cooking and the popcorn was ready to go and so were the Peninsula Panthers and the Kerry Park Islanders.  The ice had been greased and the warmup had taken place and fans began to filter into the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre not deterred from Omicron or an impending snowfall which was expected sometime around midnight, albeit, it was a smaller gathering than would have been expected if everything in the world was normal.

Panthers owner Pete Zubersky was approached pre-game to get his view on the situation as it relates to the virus. "There are a ton of new cases of Omicron everyday now and that is with limited testing.  But the hospitalization rates, ICU rates and deaths have actually gone down in the past few weeks.  I am really happy that the games are still rolling on. It is important to the mental health of our players and players in Minor Hockey Province-wide.  Dr. Henry stopped tournaments and I understand that.  My prediction for 2022 is that we will see the cases rise dramatically over the next two weeks, level off and then fall right off the table.  By that time, the booster shots will be more mainstream and I believe we will be out of the mess way sooner than later.  At least that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it."

The puck dropped shortly after 7:30 pm and although the Panthers generated a couple quality scoring opportunities early, it was the Islanders who jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a Tobin Bergman marker at 1:53 mark and a Mateo Sjoberg just two minutes later.  Both goals beat Panthers starter Brady Kelly. The Cats continued to press and were rewarded on the power play with four minutes remaining in the initial stanza.  Riley Braun finished off a nifty passing play when he beat Dryden Demelo high on the glove hand from the left dot to put the game at 2-1. With the assist, Speirs extended his point scoring streak to 36 games this season having notched at least a point in every single game the Club has played.  There were a number of solid chances but Demelo was clearly the best player on the ice as both teams seemed somewhat sluggish coming off the protracted break.  The Panthers appeared to have most of the play and did in fact outshoot the Islanders 14-8 after 20 minutes were in the books.

The first 53 seconds of the second did not bear any fruit, in fact nothing much happened offensively for the home side during the latter part of the power play.  But the Club seemed to come out of their first period funk and started to put some serious offensive pressure on Demelo and the Islanders.  And at the 6:57 mark, the effort paid off when Denver Maloney turned over the puck from an Islanders defenceman and moved it deftly to linemate Aleko Sdrakas.  Defenceman Reid Fryer picked up the 2nd helper on the play.  The fireball turned and fired and the shot seemed to surprise Demelo and found the back of the cage.  And at the 14:12 mark, defenceman Matt Seale seemed to own the Islanders zone and after looping around for what seemed forever, he found Davey Moody stationed to the left of Demelo with the gun loaded.  Seale put it right onto Moody's tape and he quickly banged home a one-timer to give the Cats the lead for the first time in the contest.  Again, the squad continued with the pressure until the buzzer but could not add to the lead.  The Islanders put four shots on Brady while Demelo was inundated with 17 disks.

The final stanza was once again all Panthers, both on the shot clock and on the scoreboard.  The Cats again threw 17 shots at Demelo while the Islanders were able to once again put four at Brady.  The locals opened up a 6-2 lead on goals by Tanner Banks, Payton Braun and Banks for the second time while Carson Strom stopped the bleeding for the visitors with one of his own right around the midway mark of the period.

Demelo was tagged with the loss facing 48 shots along the way while Brady picked up the win and had a bit of a lighter load with 16 shots sent in his direction.  Banks was named the Panthers Player of the Game while Matt Baird, who Captains the Islanders and seemed to be on the ice all night long, was the Islanders' selection.

The Cats and Islanders do not have to wait long to see each other once again but the venue will change to Mill Bay tomorrow evening at 7:30 pm.  A significant snowfall was expected through the night however also expected to end by 9:00 am and this will give Highway's Department plenty of time to clear the way up Island for the Panthers' bus.  The Panthers will be right back at home on Sunday afternoon January 2, 2022 for a 2:00 pm contest against the visiting Saanich Predators.