Good Evening Hockey Fans,
Welcome back to the Panorama Recreation Centre for the 2012/13 VIJHL Junior “B”Hockey season - and is there ever a lot of news to catch you all up on! Coreen, John and I have been doing this for a combined 12 years, but this past season might have seen the most change of any of the previous 11. Where to start??
As you recall, the playoff run the team had last February and March was unexpected and exciting. We surprised the Oceanside Generals in the 1st round by winning the first 3 games before dropping 2. In Game 6 in our barn the kids came out to play and backed by stellar goaltending by Stephen Heslop, we won an exciting 3-2 game to push us to the semi-finals against the Saanich Braves. The Braves had pretty well owned us throughout the regular season and after going down 3-1 in the best-of-7, I think they pretty well thought that the series was over. We won Game 5 in their barn scoring with only 25 seconds left in the game to tie it at one each, and then one in the first overtime on an ugly goal by Tyler Porteous. On Friday night in our barn the place was rockin’ and we dominated in an 8-5 win to force Game 7 in Saanich. We went down 2-0 but tied it up and ended up going into the 3rd period tied at 2. The teams went back and forth in the 3rd period and then again in the 1st and 2nd overtime. There was about seven minutes left and Dane Gibson turned to me and said, “Put me on Pete, I’m going to get one for you.” Gibson went out and rang one off the crossbar and after his shift was over he came off with a big smile on his face. He turned to me and said, “Put me out again,” and I did. Gibson wheeled through the neutral zone and fed Ryan Hunter who went in on the Saanich tender, put it behind him and set off a huge celebration at Pearkes Arena. I swear, there were more Panthers’ fans there than Braves fan - the rink was rocking. We went into the VIJHL Final the next day against a well-rested Victoria Cougars and they made quick work of us in 4 games. We were close in a couple of them but I think our kids were just mentally and physically exhausted and an upset would not be in the cards. But what a ride it was, one I will never forget.
The real winner in that series was the players. For the 20-year-old Panthers that moved on - Densmore, Bryan, Yee, Porteous and Dodsworth - it was a fine finish to great Junior “B” careers. All but Densmore were local Peninsula kids, Yee was actually traded for once we took back control of the team last December.
OK then, enough of last year, let’s look what happened next! I really felt that we needed to change the culture on the Club - get back to the things that brought us so much success in the past. I always have felt, “If something is not broke, don’t fix it.” Youth was a key to the way we have run our program out here on the Peninsula. We have always tried to get the very best and youngest players around, let them play and help them move to the next level rather than hold them back. They gain by this way of doing business and the team does as well as the young kids will always want to come out here to play. We started by nailing down Head Coach and General Manager Rob Armstrong. “Army” is a real teacher, I believe that is his strength, and I also believe he will be even better this time around behind the bench with this group. Ben King was brought back in for this season and will be able to contribute much more. Ben was busy in kick-starting his career away from the game but now that this is taken care of, we can expect that he will play a huge role in working with the Defence. Brian Passmore and the Club had several conversations and he was brought on to work with the Forwards. All three of these guys have great resumes and I love our coaching staff right now. I believe all three are great teachers of the game and our kids will be lucky to be involved with this staff as we move through this season.
With the staff in place, our attention turned to the roster. I really wanted a fresh start, wanted to bring in our players rather than keeping the status quo. The Westshore Wolves are new in the VIJHL this season and I believe they have great ownership. They were fighting the stigma of years past when the Sooke Stingers and then the Westshore Stingers could not win a game and really hurt the VIJHL for several years because of this ineptitude. The old Westshore Stingers were the worst draw in the league and that organization seemingly made some mistakes both on and off the ice. The new ownership wanted to establish some instant success and so they went about trying to bring in established players to help their cause. Several of the players they were looking for were playing on our squad,
and these kids were from Sooke or the Westshore. Ken Carson contacted me and after several discussions we moved 20-year-old Josh Bloomenthal, 19-year-old Chris McDonald and 18-year-old Kayle Ramsay to their Club. They agreed to not pursue a player we were interested in as well as some cash which allowed us to extend our scouting and look for the young kids we wanted. I spoke to all three before I moved them, they all told me that they wanted to go, “back home” where they had played most of their Minor Hockey, and this made absolute sense to me. They are three great kids and three great players and the Panthers’ Organization will miss them all. We wish them the best, just not against us! Look for them tonight in Westshore colours.
Next up was 19-year-old Jamie Gallo. He was injured during the playoffs and wanted to go to school in his hometown, Kelowna. I spoke to his father and let him know that he was a great kid for our Organization and we would help him get to where he wanted to go and he was subsequently dealt to Sicamous for cash. Ryan Hunter, who is a 19-year-old forward and scored the game 7 winner against the Braves - sorry, I said I wouldn’t mention that - was moved to the Pembroke Lumber Kings in the Ontario Junior “A” League. Ryan hails from the Toronto area and so this move was an absolute no-brainer. It looks like Fraser Sutherland will not be back this season, we were full at the Forward position and we have been trying hard to land him a spot to play and will continue to work on this situation. Our two goaltenders, Kylar Stern and Zack Wear were both entering their 20-year-old year and just did not fit into what we are trying to do here.
Kylar returned to Calgary and is going to school and Zack
was told that he could let us know where he wants to play and we would move his rights without any question. As you can see, a major shift was happening.
We returned Logan and Dane Gibson, Cody Allison and Spencer Loverock - all Peninsula kids - and Grayson Vickers from the squad from last year and have added a whole bunch of skill and youth. Some of the kids were called up during the playoffs, the likes of Cole Glover, Zack Smith, Kyle Richardson and Stephen Heslop. Hulking 20-year-old Brett Clarke made the club on attitude alone and he has played in the league before however took last year off to do other things. Clarkie is a real beauty and he deserves to have a whole column written about him alone.
I am sure you are all asking, “So where are we now?” Well, we have done a ton of work and have brought in some really good players but more importantly, great people. I love the kids we have right now and you will all get to know them starting tonight. They will be men that will mix in well with the community. They will be in the schools. They will be out with the Minor Hockey clubs at practice. They will be signing autographs and treating the young and old fans like gold. These kids will be the new face of the Peninsula Panthers and they will be awesome ambassadors for the Club. Of course some of them will trip and fall along the way - we all did at that age - but our Club will pick them up and give them quiet advice....or sometimes not so quiet, but they will find their way and will make us all proud.
We have some really talented youngsters here, you might see it tonight, or you might not. In 1999, Coreen and I bought the Panthers and our first year we had twelve 16-year-olds in a very, very old VIJHL. Our kids were scared that year. We played Comox in our opener and I thought our team was so much better than they were. I walked off the ice after a 7-0 loss and was a bit shell-shocked. I too was new in the VIJHL, I too had a bit of a learning curve. We found our way two weeks later and started on a roll. We made it to the VIJHL Finals, losing in 6 games to the Campbell River Storm who had been the toast of the League for several years and we could have won that series. This team is a bit older and more hardened and so I expect that we will be better than that first game in 1999. Be patient, you will be rewarded. Thank you for coming out for our home-opener tonight. I hope you enjoy our new uniforms and level of energy our Club will hopefully bring. We have some of the best fans in the VIJHL and thank you for your ongoing support. Enjoy! Pete Zubersky
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