Grambart leads Panthers into Christmas Break

Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Colwood, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers have played their last five games on the road including a 3-2 shoot-out win Wednesday night at the Q Centre at the expense of the Westshore Wolves. And with that nail-biter in the books the Club now heads into the Christmas Break sitting in 2nd place in the South Division, a single point behind the Victoria Cougars and five points up on the 3rd place Saanich Predators. The Cougars are in action this evening against the pesky Wolves while the Predators are idle as well until January 6th when they head out to the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre to face the Cats.

To say the Club has been enigmatic for the past two months and certainly over the past five games might be the understatement of the year.

En.ig.mat.ic
(ADJECTIVE)
difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious; puzzling

The Cats played their final home game in 2022 back on December 9th and looked lackluster and uninterested in a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Wolves.  But the following night up in Comox, the squad moved the intensity level up a number of notches after a slow start and upended a top North Division opponent in the Glacier Kings by a 7-6 count.  On December 13, the Panthers played a solid game however were dropped 4-3 in Overtime in Mill Bay by the Kerry Park Islanders.  But two nights later the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde impersonation continued when they headed into the Archie Browning Arena in Esquimalt and found a way to light the lamp 7 times in a 7-6 win.  But the roller coaster ride was nowhere near stopping to unload the passengers, although there were plenty of those on December 17th up in Port Alberni against the Bombers.  The Port Alberni crew are fighting for their playoff lives and they clearly were more motivated than the Panthers coming out with a 6-0 win at the end of 60 minutes.
 
Nobody could know what to expect out of the Club in their final game in 2022 against the Wolves and for 40 minutes it looked like they were ready to blow the game wide open.  But after 40 minutes were in the books on a cold night when the Q Centre parking lot was full of snow, the two teams were knotted at 2-2.

"I thought we could have been up a couple goals at the end of the 2nd period but Jacob Haydar was really good between the pipes and made some big saves to keep them in in it," explained Panthers GM Pete Zubersky.  "We have played some of our best and some of our worst hockey of the year as of late and this often happens as Christmas approaches.  I actually thought we would come out flying in the final twenty minutes and put the game away, but instead we needed our goaltender to make some big saves and to eventually be perfect in Overtime and the Shoot-out to get the two points."

The middle stanza saw the teams score the only four goals in Regulation with Payton Braun and Ryan Grambart beating Haydar while Koby Knowles and Ben Coatham put a couple pucks past Panthers netminder Mason Kelly.  But the 3rd period was all Wolves with both tenders putting up a zero on the board.  The 5-minute overtime was relatively uneventful and in the shoot-out, Kelly stopped all three Wolves attempts while Grambart notched the winner which allowed the Cats to begin the festive season on the right note.

"Grambart has been really good for us this season and has taken a huge step from last year," quipped Zubersky. "He has 27 goals going into the break and leads all goal scorers in the VIJHL.  I knew he could score but he is really having a fantastic year on the offensive end of the ice.  And when Ryan locks in defensively, I see our entire group play better and harder.  I really believe we will see a whole bunch more from him and our group in our final 16 games after the break and in the playoffs.  We have put ourselves in a good spot.  We obviously could have been higher in the standings but if you told me where we would be at Christmas back on September 1st, I would have immediately taken it.  Now we have to change gears as the games are only getting tougher from here, we all know it."

The Panthers will open after the break up in Mill Bay against the Islanders on January 3rd and will then be back at home on January 6th against the Predators after having not had home cooking for six straight games.  It is a pretty safe bet that both the players and fans are looking forward to that reunion.  The puck drops at 7:30 pm.