Home cooking is what Panthers needed downing Glacier Kings 4-2

Yogi Berra was the catcher for some of the great New York Yankee teams in years past and he coined many sayings that have withstood the test of time.  One of the most famous was, "It's never over 'til it's over," and Friday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre this Yogi Berraism almost reared up once again.

The Panthers came out for the warmup and looked sluggish and unmotivated, perhaps the young cats were still licking their wounds after dropping a 1-0 decision last Sunday afternoon in Oceanside to the Generals and then following it up in Saanich on Wednesday evening looking at the wrong end of a 5-3 score when the final buzzer had sounded.  One would have thought the young squad would have been chomping at the bit to put two points up on the board and would have been ready to compete, but this clearly was not the case.  The team slept through the fifteen-minute pregame skate and looked more like a beer league hockey team than a Junior squad.  The visiting Comox Valley Glacier Kings looked like the team that was fresh - not the ones that had spent the last four hours on the bus.

And it did not change in the first period, the Panthers directing only six shots towards Glacier Kings netminder Matthew Mitchell.  But it would be Panthers diminutive and talented forward Cole Golka who would be first on the scoresheet when he beat Mitchell at 6:33 of the first frame on an assist from Dane Gibson.  And then the tall and talented Californian, Cody Breitenstein hammered one from the point at the 13:25 mark to make it a 2-0 game going into the intermission.  Zack Smith continued the scoring onslaught with just past the five minute mark when he converted a pass from Golka on the powerplay and it appeared as though the route was on.  The Panthers were outworking the visitors in every aspect at this point.  But the Glacier Kings Sheldon Brett scored just past the twelve minute mark to put the Kings within two and a minute later the Glacier Kings went on a powerplay of their own.  The locals were doing a nice job of protecting Justin Samra between the pipes and making his first start of the young season.  And it would be 17-year-old Josh Adkins who would read the play in his own end and manage to come up with the puck and skate the entire length of the ice to go in alone on Mitchell.  Adkins would be denied and only seconds later Ryan Ball scored for the Glacier Kings to make it a one-goal game, and it remained this way when the teams skated off at the end of the period.

In the third frame the teams went back and forth and with just five minutes left and the contest still hanging in the balance, Peninsula Minor Hockey product and captain of last years Midget "AA" squad, Brett Sjerven got the puck on his stick on the wall at the point.  Sjerven sent a wobbling shot toward the visitor's net and although it seemed quite harmless, it managed to find it's way over the shoulder of Mitchell to put the Panthers up 4-2.  Cole Glover and Grayson Vickers would pick up helpers.  For Sjerven, who was seeing his first game action this season, it was a sweet moment after having battled back from health issues earlier in the summer.  It was his first goal in Junior hockey.

The Glacier Kings pulled their starter with just under three minutes left in the game and, although at times they put pressure on Samra and really could have made it a one-goal game once again, Samra held tough and shut the door between the pipes.  The final score would be 4-2 and after the shaky start, it was really a hard-working squad that deserved the win.


The Three Stars were;

1.  Samra
2.  Golka
3.  Sjerven

"I watched our kids come out to start the warmup and was really concerned," explained Hockey Operations boss Pete Zubersky.  Ten kids skated through the gate and looked like they were at public skating.  Logan Gibson and Cody Allison jumped on the ice and looked like Junior players.  These guys all have aspirations of moving up the hockey ladder and they have to understand that the game starts when they arrive at the rink and does not end until the final buzzer.  There are always people in the stands who are important to their advancement and sometimes kids just do not understand that.  We were fortunate that Samra came to play and I thought he really held us in there until some of our guys figured it out."

Zubersky spoke a bit more about Samra.  "The kid is on the team and has been told he will be in the backup roll to start the season.  Stephen Heslop had made three starts and it was time for Samra to get his feet wet.  He has had a great attitude watching Heslop for the last three games and then he went in against Comox and gave us a chance to win.  I thought the second goal on the powerplay was one that he should have had and I am sure he would like that shot back, but other than that I thought he played a real solid game.  With Goaltenders, attitude will take you to the next level as much as talent.  If a kid is too cocky, if he is not a team player, if he only cares about himself and not the team, if he is down on his team when things are not going well, the player will fizzle out no matter how good he is.  Samra has shown me a lot in the past two weeks.  The season is young and he is still our backup but I think we are all a whole lot more comfortable after watching him between the pipes and putting up a win."

The Panthers travel to Victoria next Thursday evening and will then be back home next Friday when they play host to the Kerry Park Islanders with the puck set to drop at 7:30 pm.

Panthers Tracks....Will Finlay pictured in the article was hit knee-to-knee in the second and left the game for a couple minutes before returning....his non-stop approach to the game is making an impression with management....Golka finally got the monkey off his back with a two-point outing....the Club looks for him to add offence ....Patrick Croome, who was signed this past Tuesday, looked good on the back end for the Club...Breitenstein continues to shine and looks more comfortable each time out....Sjerven is not known as a goal-scorer but certainly knows what to do once the red light goes on....Reece Costain dropped his gloves for the first time in his Junior career right at the end of the second period and clearly won the decision....