Panthers move into 1st in South Division with a pair of weekend wins

Sunday January 23, 2022
Esquimalt, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers held serve at home in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre Friday night and then ventured into the hostile Archie Browning Arena Sunday afternoon trailing the Victoria Cougars by a single point in the standings with an opportunity to make some hay.  And that they did.  After bouncing the Cougars 6-2 with a workmanlike effort from every single player in the lineup, the Cats from the Peninsula took over sole possession of 1st in the South Division of the VIJHL, a single point ahead of the Cougars, albeit, the Cougars have three games in hand.

On Friday, the squad looked like they were going to be back in the barn and cooled early when they opened up a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes.  But the Predators refused to give up and scored midway through the final frame to knot the score at 4-4.  A pretty play by defencemen Reid Fryer and Matt Seale eventually found Mr. Point Per Game man in Logan Speirs and it was Speirs who found the back of the net for the 5-4 lead and eventually the 5-4 win.  Brady Kelly was solid throughout the game and picked up the win.

On Sunday, the Club looked ready to go from the drop of the puck and opened up a 2-0 lead after 19 minutes on goals by Tanner Banks and Speirs.  But Ashton Lukan was beat in the final minute of play and although the score could have been a bit more lopsided, the Panthers held the smallest of leads at 2-1 when the buzzer sounded to end the period.  Speirs added a couple more in the 2nd while the Cougars responded with one marker once again and after 40 minutes were in the books, the locals held the 4-2 lead.  It felt like it could have been more and when Speirs scored once again midway through the final stanza, the game had the feeling that it might be over.  The Panthers went on a late power play and silky smooth 17-year-old Tristan Rosenblood finished off a nice passing play from Ethan Lingard and Hunter Jensen to close the scoring.

Speirs had four goals on the afternoon while Riley Braun picked up four helpers and brother Payton added three assists as well.  It was a tidy 11-point game for the VIJHL's top line.

"We had a good fireside chat before the game," explained Panthers Owner and interim coach Pete Zubersky.  "We are all expecting our Head Coach Brad Tippett to be back in the saddle this week after missing the better part of two months.  He has had to deal with some medical issues but underwent a procedure and that has all been dealt with now.  We are excited to have him back and I think the guys had a bit of extra jump out there today knowing Coach will be the one cracking the whip once again.  We all decided as a group when he went out of the lineup that it was everyone's job to hold down the fort until he got back, and they did just that.  Today was really 20 guys pulling on the rope.  Not everyone is going to be a dancer, we need ditch diggers as well and we had that for all 60 minutes tonight.  Our guys had a lot of fun today but we have a lot of work to do yet.  We have some things we have to clean up and Coach can take care of that."

The Panthers will have a week of practice and will then welcome in the visiting Westshore Wolves on Friday night.  The puck drops at 7:30 pm.