Panthers have one last Team Meeting and name Mason McNeill as Top Playoff Performer

Monday, March 13, 2023
Panorama Recreation Centre
North Saanich, British Columbia

The Peninsula Panthers gathered on Monday evening for one last spin around the ice.  There were no coaches directing the players but rather it was simply a game of pond hockey that had a lot of spirit and laughs.  Goaltender Brady Kelly skated as a forward and when the buzzer sounded to end the slot, he and his twin brother Mason ended the session with a wrestling match.  Several of the players did not seem to want to leave the surface and had to be urged by staff as the Olympia Ice Cleaner was about to make its rounds as it has done a billion times in rinks across Canada this season.  As the practice played out, Panthers General Manager Pete Zubersky conducted one-on-one meetings with his group except for the six 20's who had aged out.

The players showered up and then milled around the the hall outside the dressing room.  A long table featured a lot of pizza, drinks, a large sheet of cookies dropped off by Loren Braun and a ton of pepperoni brought to the rink by Boughneath Farms Lynn and Duncan Reimer.  The players did not eye the table for long and within a few minutes, the food and drinks had been inhaled.  

The players and staff then went into the room and everyone took a turn to talk about the year or anything else they wanted to talk about.  Zubersky then presented Mason McNeill with the Top Playoff Performer Award, the only award remaining to be presented as the balance had been presented at the wrap-up dinner just prior to the playoffs.  McNeill is a free spirit and he brought down the house with some of his comments and once again his smile filled the room.  McNeill had been a physical force and had been tasked to go head-to-head with the Predators top line and he had done his job in spades.  It was easier for the Panthers to have this matchup at home for the Cats but whoever McNeill went out against, he clearly had their attention.  He threw the biggest checks in the series and had a smile on his face when he did it.

Andrew Braun, Payton Braun, Tanner Banks, Mason Kelly, Brady Kelly and Matt Seale were then presented with their Game Jerseys and later met with the coaching staff to debrief the season and their careers with the Panthers.

The players then filtered out of the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre one last time as the laundry went in and some of the clean-up work continued.  This time alone gave Zubersky some time to go over the evening's events in his mind.

"The interviews surprised me a bit," quipped Zubersky.  "There were a number of guys who thought that we should be moving to the next round and that we played well enough to do that.  I feel the same way but I also feel the Predators played well enough to do the same thing.  The series was a coin flip and we knew it would be. In the individual meetings, the main meetings and the final meeting with the 20's, it was amazing how many guys spoke about the culture around the Club.  Mason Kelly said that he had played in a lot of places and nothing came close to being such a close-knit group and he urged the returning players to continue with this tradition and culture.  Andrew Braun commented that the Organization allowed each player to focus on hockey but on other things as well and he appreciated that very much.  A couple of the guys are looking to move up a level and one said that he may not come back but everyone else is already looking forward to when we start up.  Hockey is in their blood."

Zubersky finished the last of the laundry around 11:00 pm and then headed to his wheels in the parking lot and drove away.  The season was over but he was thinking about what Payton Braun had mentioned to him at the end of the practice.  Although Braun has aged out and will be heading to the USA for more Education, he asked Zubersky when the Spring Identifcation Camp is and let the GM know he is ready to come out and help.  Once a Panthers player, always a Panthers player!

The Camp goes April 7-10, and the cycle starts once again.