Panthers remain undefeated in regulation time with 4-1 win over Buccaneers

October 21, 2022
North Saanich, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers continue to find a way to win with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Nanaimo Buccaneers. Some timely goals and stellar goaltending proved to be enough to add a notch to their collective belt and allowed the Club to retain their 1st place standing in the VIJHL.  But it did not come easy and there were plenty of opportunities for those in attendance in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre to utilize the edges of their seats and to chew on their collective fingernails.

Panthers' Ethan Warnes opened the scoring at 13:27 of the opening frame on a snapshot from the slot. Evan Birks had taken the faceoff to the right of Buccaneers starting netminder Steven Reid and won the puck to the wall to linemate Zach Warren.  The puck squirted to Warnes and he made no mistake in beating Reid giving his squad a 1-0 lead. Warnes had a bigger celebration than usual as it was his first career Junior goal and the puck was quickly gobbled up by a team mate to be added to his trophy cabinet at a later date. But the lead quickly dissolved just over a minute later when Bucs forward Alex Wienecke romped down the right side through the neutral zone and into the Panthers' end.  At the hash mark he ripped a shot that beat Panthers netminder Brady Kelly and the two Clubs skated to the first intermission deadlocked at 1-1.

The 2nd period solved nothing. Both netminders were up to the task and both made crucial saves to stave off several scoring chances by each team.

The Cats dominated the final stanza on a pair of goals by Ryan Grambart, defenceman Evan Crawford and another one by Grambart into an empty net with Reid on the bench for the extra attacker and with only 45 ticks remaining on the clock.  The insurance marker gave the Panthers a 4-1 lead and that is ultimately where the game settled at when the horn sounded at the end of 60 minutes of action.

Steven Reid blocked 41 of 44 shots and was collared for the loss while Cats Brady Kelly was outstanding knocking down 36 of 37 Buccaneers attempts in picking up his 6th win of the season.  Mason McNeill was stellar on the defensive side of the puck for the Panthers and also picked up an assist on Grambart's insurance tally and was named the Cat's Player of the Game for his efforts.  Kelly certainly deserved honorable mention for his heroics.  Reid was named the Bucs Player of the Game.

"The Bucs are a team who are much better than their current record," quipped Panthers General Manager Pete Zubersky. "Our guys took them lightly and I thought that the effort was not there for at least two periods. I cannot remember Reid being screened on any shot over the first 40 minutes and so he sat in his rocking chair and made save after save. It doesn't work.  There is a price to be paid every single game and every team is looking for guys who will pay that price every night.  We generated traffic in the 3rd period and ended up putting three pucks to the back of the net.  Funny how that works.  We will need to have a big effort Sunday afternoon when we head North for a game.  It won't be easy."

The Panthers are in Campbell River on Sunday at 4:30 to face a tough and ready Storm group.  "The Storm knocked off the Saanich Predators on Friday night and I am sure they are looking to put up another win in front of their home crown Sunday. We will have our hands full, no doubt about it.  But I like the way our guys are finding ways to win hockey games right now. Wins now really matter.  There will be stretches this season where the wins will not be coming and so you have to put money in the bank when you can."

Panthers Tracks...The Panthers head out just before noon on Sunday with a 4:30 pm start in Campbell River set to go...next Friday the team will host the Kerry Park Islanders...the #10 jersey of Riley Braun will be retired in a ceremony starting at 7:30 pm...fans are asked to be in their seats by 7:25 pm as a large crowd is expected...Braun broke almost every single scoring record with the Panthers and a number of VIJHL records as well...the 8, 9, 10 line of Josh Lingard, Tanner Wort and Braun played a number of seasons together for the Panthers including the Covid season when the Club only played 12 games...this group racked up huge points and thrilled local fans for several seasons...Logan Speirs, Payton Braun and Riley Braun played one season together last year and was the most prolific trio in the history of the Club...The season culminated in a VIJHL Championship on a Speirs overtime winner in Game 6 against the Oceanside Generals back on April 1...for all his scoring achievements it will be a blocked shot which extended Game 6 that Braun might most be remembered for...that block prevented a Generals win to force Game 7 and allowed for the Speirs heroics a short time later.