With Wolves' win over Panthers, collision course now seems inevitable

Saturday January 29, 2022
North Saanich, British Columbia

The maximum crowd allowed by PHO rules were buzzing while filtered out of the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre last night after watching the visiting Westshore Wolves down the Peninsula Panthers 3-1.  The game was a highly-entertaining affair that was stalemated at 1-1 midway through the final stanza and with the Cats on the power play.  But a turnover just inside the Wolves' end resulted in speedster Issac Leik breaking in all alone on Panthers' netminder Brady Kelly and after moving the puck to his backhand, Leik gently tossed the disk to the back of the net to provide his squad the 2-1 cushion.  And Leik also provided the insurance marker into the empty net with Kelly on the bench for an extra attacker, this one coming with only 18 ticks remaining in the contest.  The game had everything and it will most likely be a preview to what most all hockey pundits expect will be a hotly-contested Best-of-7 first round playoff tilt between the two squads.

Wolves' Kobe Knowles was the lone marksman in the opening stanza scoring on the power play while Tanner Banks beat Wolves' netminder Jacob Haydar in the middle frame.  This set the stage for Leik to put the game on ice and send his Club home happy in the final 20 minutes and almost set in motion the 1st Round tilt between the teams.

Head Coach Brad Tippett was behind the bench once again after missing a number of weeks dealing with a medical issue.  He was asked for coments on Saturday morning after the 60 minutes of action had some time to be digested:

"It was a frustrating night for our side. I thought we worked hard but perhaps we didn’t work wisely.  I thought at times we tried to be too cute in a lot of areas and that is not the way to win hockey games.  Westshore came in with a game plan to guard the house with as many bodies as possible, and did a good job of that. You have to take what opposition gives you, tonight we didn't. We kept trying to make too many plays through too many people too many times.  In terms of grade A scoring chances, I thought we held the edge. Our finishing wasn’t great. We were just a step off and Haydar was outstanding. I thought it was Brady Kelly’s best game, even with the loss.  All of this is fixable and will be addressed at Monday's practice."

Hadar and Kelly were named the players of the game for their respective squads, although Leik for the Wolves and defenceman Evan Crawford for the Cats were both outstanding all evening long.  Haydar blocked 40 of 41 shots and collected the win while Kelly was good on 24 of 26 and was collared for the loss.

The Panthers now have the weekend off before getting back to business at practice on Monday evening.  Next up is the Victoria Cougars this coming Friday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre with the puck set to drop at 7:30 pm.

The Panthers have set their Spring Identification Camp for the weekend of April 15-17 and players will be commited to after the camp comes to a close on the Sunday.  Players are invited to check the website under "Camps" for details and are encouraged to register early to avoid disappointment.