Panthers - A New Era

The Joe Densmore's and the Jake Bryan's are gone - a new era has begun for the Panthers, this time around it will be with the Cole Glover's and Zach Smith's and many others taking the spotlight.

Last season the Panthers were in turmoil when John Wilson, Coreen and I jumped back in the saddle.  The Panthers had been returned to the League.  The team was teetering on the ledge, one small push would have put them over the edge and into the abyss - the VIJHL Governors were considering shutting the team down for the season.  We took the reins in the first week of December and there were fires to put out and there was really no time to wait.  Several moves were made, a couple of the people that had been associated with the team when Coreen and I owned it and then when John and Val Wilson took over from us were brought back into the fold and it was the start of the rebuilding process.

Two veteran players were traded early in late December and although we were struggling to win games, I could see that there was talent in our room.  As the season ended the players could see it as well, and they started to believe.  We upset the Oceanside Generals in the first round of the playoffs, although it took six hard games to do it.  And then we beat the Saanich Braves, knocking them out in Double Overtime in Game 7 to finally put them to bed for the season.  We had been down 3-1 in games and it took every ounce of energy to win this series.  I think it showed in the VIJHL finals against Victoria, we were physically and emotionally spent and, although we were close in a couple games, the tanks were on empty.

We wish our 20-year-olds good luck in whatever path they choose to travel - Joe Densmore, Jake Bryan, Tyler Porteous, Trevor Yee and Brock Doddsworth - and I am sure that they will find success on any road they travel.

In the off-season we have moved Chris McDonald, Kayle Ramsay and Josh Bloomenthal to the Westshore Wolves, back to where they played their minor hockey except for McDonald who hails from Sooke.  We will welcome all three back as the Wolves play in our home opener on September 7th and this situation will help make for an interesting storyline for our first game of the season.  I would not have wanted it any other way!

We only have a few veterans returning but we have been working hard to bring in a fresh new group who will be young and competitive.  I believe our only 20-year-old will be Logan Gibson who seemed to find a role late last season and into the playoffs and who really played his best hockey when it counted.  Grayson Vickers will help anchor the defence in his 2nd year with the Panthers while Cody Allison - the never-say-die workaholic - will prove to be an important player on the club.  I'm not sure that Dane Gibson will be back, he has a crack at playing at the next level and if he does I will be hoping that he tears it up.  Spencer Loverock signed late with the club and played the last five regular season games so is still considered a rookie.  He should have a huge year and I believe that his skating and competitiveness will take this young fellow up the ladder in the years to come - the Panthers will be one stop on his way to a scholarship, in my mind.

We have signed several players, I won't speak about all of them right now, but suffice to say, we will be young, gritty and I believe quite talented.  I want our club to be the hardest working group in the VIJHL and anything less will be a huge disappointment.  Cole Glover who is pictured is a local Peninsula kid who Captained the Major Midget team last season.  He was brought up during the playoffs and bounced between the 2nd and 3rd lines and did not look one bit out of place.  He was great in the dressing room, has a big, infectious smile and he was a player that I immediately thought the world of.  I am looking forward to his season and I expect there will be a lot more ups than downs as he performed well under an incredible playoffs last season. 

This season you will see a team full of young, energetic players who will fit well in the community on the Peninsula.  We are looking for good people.  We are looking for good players.  Cole Glover and many of the others we have signed or have our eye on fit what we are looking for.

In the coming weeks I will be talking about more of the kids we have signed and I can hardly wait to talk about each and every one of them.

Rob Armstrong will be back behind the bench as our Coach and General Manager and I have told him quite often that the group of kids that we are recruiting will be a coaches' dream.  Ben King will be back as an assistant working with the Defencemen on the team and working closely with Rob.

Several months ago Brian Passmore agreed to come on board and I will dedicate a future article speaking about him.  Brian played Major Junior Hockey in Ontario and was then drafted by the Minnesota Wild.  He never did crack the NHL however played seven years of Professional hockey in the ECHL and followed that up with two years playing pro in Europe.  "Passy" coached last season in minor hockey in Saanich and I still cannot figure out how we were lucky enough to land this fellow.  Again, I will speak more about him in a future article.

I hope you all are enjoying our new website.  We will try and keep the site fresh so that each time you visit you see something new.  We will break out new Uniforms in September - I love how they turned out.  We have a couple months of work yet to be done trying to make our team just a bit better with each passing day. 

As you have likely seen, our opener is slated for Friday evening, September 7th at 7:30 pm.  As you check the schedule you will see that our games are once again on Friday's - the only two games that will be played on other nights are Thursday, November 29th and Sunday afternoon, December 9th and this game will be our annual Peninsula Minor Hockey Appreciation game where we giveaway our third jersey which will be made up specifically for this game.  The puck will drop at 1:30 pm on December 9th so every single PMHA player - young or younger - can be in attendance.

Please give us feedback on the site or on any other issues you would like to chat about.  I will answer every single one.

Pete Zubersky