H-Bomb Harris explodes on Peninsula!!

Friday, September 15, 2023
Panorama Recreation Centre
North Saanich, British Columbia

As the fans trickled out of the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre to the soft tunes of Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World', most were likely headed straight home for a shower to wash down the sweat which had accumulated from the time they arrived right around 7:30 pm.  The vast majority did not use their seats but the edges were completely worn out.  

The Peninsula Panthers and Kerry Park Islanders came into the game as the only two Teams remaining in the Southern Division of the VIJHL with perfect records but that had to change by the end of the evening and both Organizations fully understood that.  As an aside, the Campbell River Storm and Oceanside Generals from the North also went into Friday night with an unblemished record and both of them held serve.

The game ping-ponged back and forth for the first several minutes with Panthers' netminder Silas Currie and his counterpart Ethan Penner both forced to make a key save or two.  At the 9:06 mark and with the Islanders starting to carry the play, Cat's defenceman Robson Scott shovelled the pass to Ryan Grambart on the right side near the blueline in the defensive end.  Grambart quickly moved the puck to speedy 18-year-old Carson Harris as he flashed out of his zone at top speed.  The diminutive sniper picked up the puck in full stride and went in alone on Penner from Centre Ice and made no mistake with a little move in tight to give his side a 1-0 lead.

The Islanders took a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes were in the books on a couple markers from Kellan Bates and a single coming from Parker Klippenstein.  But all Panthers' fans were talking about as they ordered up their popcorn and hot dogs at the 2nd intermission was the play on the Panthers' goal.  Scott gathered in the puck in his own end and found Luka Jansen van Rensburg on the right side.  The hulking forward raced at top speed down the wall and blew past an Islanders' defenceman before cutting to the net from deep in the offensive zone.  He looked up to find Harris in the slot and the pass was perfect.  Harris put an exclamation mark on JVR's play when he snapped the disk past Penner to the back of the cage.

Down 3-2, Head Coach and General Manager had an opportunity to get a message across to his squad, and that he did.  In a game that had more ups and downs than a toilet seat at a beer drinker's convention, Stanton shared his thoughts after the final buzzer sounded.

"I'm not really sure how to even start. This one, as the game had way too many ups and downs. Our first 5 minutes of the first was probably not the start we wanted but we found ourselves up 1-0 on a good goal from Harry. The last 15 of the 1st was a step better, but we still were fighting the puck lots and struggled in our D zone. Our 2nd, was a tad bit of a let down. We had guys who we rely on heavily make costly mistakes and this left us chasing the game - down 3-2 after the 2nd. We talked in the 2nd intermission about our identity as a team and who we were.... or actually who we wanted to be. Our backs were against the wall but we can find a way.  We ended with a 4-3 win backed by solid play from Silas between the pipes and some good offensive help from Harry, JR (Julien Phillips) and JVR. Grambo was his old self in the 3rd as well and generated many scoring opportunities."

The final stanza Stanton discussed had fans in a frenzy for much of the final 20 minutes.  At the 8:42 mark, Harris completed the hat trick with helpers coming from JVR and Tristan Rosenblood.  And just past the midway mark and with just 8:39 remaining in the contest, JVR popped the winner with assists going to Rosenblood and Harris.  It was the 4th point of the night for Harris, by far his best night of action in the VIJHL over a two-year span.

There would be no further scoring and when the final buzzer sounded, Harris and Klippenstein were named as the Players of the Game for their respective squads.  Currie picked up his 2nd win of the season blocking 23 of 26 shots while Penner was tagged for the loss knocking down 27 of 31 shots in the process.

The Cats will face a tough test Saturday night when they head to Campbell River to take on the Storm.  Both Clubs sit with identical 3-0 records and once again, something has to give.

Stanton summed it up well.  "We look at Saturday night as another early season test that many of our guys have had marked on our calendar."