Panthers upended by Wolves 4-2 in Exhibition action

Friday, August 25, 2023
Panorama Recreation Centre
North Saanich, British Columbia

The Westshore Wolves arrived at the Panorama Recreation Centre 90 minutes before the puck was set to drop at 7:30 pm Friday evening for their game against Peninsula Panthers and judging from the respective lineups for the game, the two teams clearly were on different agendas.  The Wolves dressed a lineup which undoubtedly will very closely resemble what they will roll out when they return in two weeks to face the same Panthers Organization for the Cats Home Opener on September 8.  From an outsider looking in, it appeared as though the Wolves were fine-tuning for the regular season.  The Cats on the other hand are going through what they consider to be a very important weekend of evaluations and trimming of the Main Camp roster.  And Head Coach/GM Tyler Stanton and his staff resisted the urge to match the Wolves firepower on the evening opting to continue with his plan leading into September 8.  The Club chose to sit nine returning veterans and signed players and instead went with young kids on the bubble and still having sights on making the squad and a number of youngsters who will be key affiliate players this season.

Jacob Nisula drew the assignment between the pipes for the Cats while the Wolves countered with veteran stopper Ben Edwards.  Both goaltenders went the distance in a Wolves 4-2 win with the visitors outshooting the locals 37-35.  Both goaltenders were named Player of the Game for their respective squads.

The Wolves scored twice in the inital stanza on markers by Noah Gebicki and Zion Lavoie.  Lavoie's goal came right at the buzzer to end the period on some weak defensive coverage by the Panthers in their defensive zone.

The Panthers scored the lone marker in the middle frame on a greasy goal which appeared to bounce in off the shin pad of Cam Sneek.  Sneek, who has worked hard on his game in the off-season, has size and speed and perhaps a little nasty in his game and he had a lot of room as he cruised towards Edwards.  Seventeen-year-old Ben Swan who has impressed during Main Camp and Malcolm Fletcher who logged a lion's share of ice in the contest, worked to get the puck to the front and Sneek was in the right place at the right time scoring from just on top of the blue paint to bring the Panthers within a goal at 2-1.

The two teams exchanged markers midway through the final period.  Wolves Jackson Campbell scored on a nice shot over the left shoulder of Nisula at the 8:21 mark, but the Cats replied a couple minutes later on what was clearly the prettiest play of the evening.  Recently-signed defencemen Jason Sekulich and Gavin Mowat combined to get the puck to a streaking 15-year-old Travis Swanson.  The diminutive sniper who has impressed for the past four weeks - and is the brother of 4-year Panthers veteran Evan Crawford - utilized his electric speed as he romped down the left side and into the Wolves on a 2-on-1 opportunity.  Swanson made a sweet pass onto the tape of Evan Mayer who was racing into the low slot and Mayer made no mistake finishing with a one-time that found nothing but the back of the net behind a startled Edwards, drawing the Cats within a goal once again.

Wolves veteran Koby Knowles scored an insurance marker with just over six minutes remaining in the contest which seemed to put the final nail in the coffin and that goal proved to put a lid on scoring for the night.

The Wolves celebrated at the final buzzer but a quiet group of Cats left the ice knowing that they too got exactly what they had hoped for and perhaps even a little more.  Swan had caught the eye of the Coaching staff and he did nothing in the game to hurt his chances with the squad.  The players showered and changed and 20 minutes after the game, a number of them were seen lining up outside the Coaches Office for interviews.  Undoubtedly some of them were reassigned to their respective U-18 programs while a small number will move on in the Main Camp past the weekend.

After Stanton and staff were finished with these interviews, the busy Coach stepped outside his office, took a deep breath and offered up a few comments on the evening:

"Westshore put out a strong group tonight and all things considered, our group we put on the ice played very well on the night. We went up against essentially a full team of Jr experienced guys, with 12 guys who have never stepped on the ice in any Jr experience, the staff was very impressed."

"'Twenty-year-old Julien Phillips led the troops especially when he moved up the level of his physical play ten minutes into the 1st.  He showed the leadership he brings to the young guys.  Cam Sneek popped in a greasy one in the 2nd and those goals always bring a smile to my face. Ben Swan and Jason Sekulich showed great mid-game adjustments after shaking off some nerves in the early going.  Both flexed their physical and skilled play in the last two periods. I liked both 16-year-old Lucas Dionne and17-year-old Leon Willet.  They continued to impress on the back end and we see progress in their individual game.  Gavin Mowat and Seth Fryer also turned in nice efforts and both showed some leadership even at their young age.

"Jacob Nisula in net was outstanding. He held us in the game early as the boys shook off some much to be expected nerves."

The Wolves won the game but the Panthers got exactly what they came for on the evening and nothing less.

The squad will travel to Esquimalt Sunday evening for a 7:00 pm date with the Victoria Cougars.  The roster will dramatically be trimmed Sunday night and the Club will continue with Main Camp Monday evening with a full slate of practice scheduled for next week.  The Panthers have one remaining Home Exhibition game which will go next Friday night at 7:30 pm against the Cougars and will then begin to look at the fine details after next Friday to be ready to go at the Home Opener September 8 against the Wolves.