Gaetz, Ty and Sather help to Barrie Cougars

Friday, January 5, 2024
Panorama Recreation Centre
North Saanich, British Columbia

Cliches in the sports world are a dime a dozen and hockey pundits did not have to rack their collective brains too hard in order to come up with a number of them after the Peninsula Panthers downed the visiting Victoria Cougars 4-0 Friday night. The Panthers have gone through their worst two-month stretch in recent memory and had to find a way, any way, to stop the bleeding. Head Coach and General Manager Tyler Stanton pulled off a blockbuster trade 24 hours earlier with the Saanich Predators.  The deal saw Cats Captain Evan Crawford, top scorer Ryan Grambart and a much better than just serviceable forward in Tristan Rosenblood dispatched 20 minutes South of the Panorama Recreation Centre to the George Pearkes Arena, home of the Saanich Braves. But Stanton believed he had acquired some character and grit with a measure of scoring in return with the likes of Gaetz and Ty Barrie, Cole Sather and Kyle Erickson coming to the Peninsula.

The cliches started flowing a couple hours before the puck was set to drop between the feline foes in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre with the Barrie brothers and Sather in the house and excited to start their new journey. Erickson was out of the Greater Victoria area and was due back Saturday morning and he too will be in the lineup early Sunday afternoon when the same two Clubs go nose-to-nose and toes-to-toes at the Archie Browning Sports Centre in Esquimalt.  But that game was in the distant future as the entire focus of the Panthers Organization was on the impending game.

"It's a must win...it's time to sink or swim...there is no place to hide...the clock is striking midnight...the list of cliches could go on and on.  But it was safe to say that this was perhaps the most important game of the season for the Cats.  The Club had lost their last six games and 13 of their last 17 and with "The trade" being front of mind for each and every fan as they filtered into the Panorama Friday night, something had to give.  

One Panthers player who was not in the giving mood was none other than starting goaltender Tanner Ferrill. Ferrill would choose this evening to make his best Junior start of his career.  He saw 39 Victoria Cougars shots directed his way and he was perfect on every one of them, some in spectacular fashion.  His counterpart Ryan Melanson blocked 14 of 17 Panthers shots directed his way.  Ty Barrie scored into the empty net while Melanson was on the bench for an extra attacker and the story was in the books with the Panthers pulling off a 4-0 win.

When the final buzzer sounded, a rejuvinated Panthers group spilled over the wall at the bench and and celebrated with Ferrill who was full value for the shutout and for the Player of the Game selection.  The group celebrated the crowd and then headed down the tunnel and into the dressing room to celebrate their new teammates and the victory.

The three additions played up front on a line together and were fantastic all night long. They came in as advertised and hustled and worked their collective tails off all night long.  Although Ferrill was awarded the Player of the Game, perhaps the 2nd, 3rd and 4th stars could have arguably gone to the trio of Barrie, Barrie and Sather. The line collected eight points on the night.  Ty Barrie had two goals including the empty-netter, Gaetz Barrie had helpers on all four goals and Sather had a goal and an assist in the game.  Ahron Calalay scored the opening marker midway through the 2nd period when Gaetz Barrie powered to the net and got a shot off from a tough angle.  Melanson made the save but Calalay was driving to the net from the high slot and he banged a backhand to the back of the net to give his squad a 1-0 lead.  The tally would prove to be the winner.

Coach Tyler Stanton had a huge smile on his face after facing some real adversity for a number of weeks. 

"The term "sink or swim" is something we talked about as an organization after making a move like we did, and boy did we ever swim last night. You woulda thought it was a playoff game with the atmosphere in the building, and in the room. A.C (Ahron Calalay) got us started off in the 2nd Period with a great hard-nosed play for his second of the year and then the new guys took over in the 3rd when together they scored three more. Ferrill was outstanding in net. The boys really showed up. I could not be prouder of that performance after a tough couple of months."

The two rivals will once again light the powder on Sunday and they will have three more games after that before the regular season comes to a close in late February.  And if the season were to end today, these two teams would be opponents in the 1st Round of the VIJHL Playoffs.

The Panthers are back home next Friday when the Westshore Wolves come in for their final visit of the Regular Season.  The puck is set to drop at 7:30 pm.

Panthers Tracks...There was almost as much gear going out the door two hours before the game on Friday as at the end of Main Camp...The Panthers held a pre-game protracted meeting prior to the game to re-focus goals for the season...Erickson was in the Interior of BC and was due to land in Victoria at 10:00 am Saturday...He will be heading straight to the Panorama to collect gear so that he can be part of the action Sunday...Cats have a pair of stellar goaltenders in Ferrill and Currie and Stanton feels comfortable going with either of them...16-year-old Willem Rabourn jumped into the broadcast booth Friday between play-by-play Will Bryant and Colorman Bill Geddie...the trading deadline is set for Wednesday, January 10th at 4:00 pm...Panthers are in a unique position in terms of their roster going into the deadline after Friday night's performance...a playoff atmosphere was prevalent Friday night and when the final buzzer sounded, fans stayed to enjoy the win as they watched the Club celebrate on ice...