Panthers beat Wolves in penalty-filled game

The Peninsula Panthers and the Westshore Wolves were only two points apart in the standings however the Panthers had a game in hand as they ventured into the Bear Mountain Arena for a Wednesday evening contest.  Many of the players from both teams were well known to each other, in fact the Panthers had moved Josh Bloomenthal, Kayle Ramsay and Chris McDonald to the Wolves in two off-season transactions.  But once the National Anthem was complete, it was clearly "game on," and it was clear to all in attendance that there is no love lost between the two on-ice VIJHL South Division foes.

Stephen Heslop for the visitors and Matt Chester for the Wolves made the start between the pipes for the respective clubs and both would factor in the outcome in more ways than the usual.  It would be the Panthers who would fill the net early and often, winning in convincing fashion by a 7-1 count.  "Whistler Will" Finlay opened the scoring with the game only three minutes old and then big power forward Reece Costain would add a second marker for the felines from the Peninsula before the first period had hit the halfway point.  The Wolves seemed to have been sleeping for the first ten minutes of the game however someone told them that the alarm clock had gone off as they dominated the final ten minutes of the first frame but could not manage to beat Heslop.

It would be Panthers' Cole Glover who would open scoring only 31 ticks into the second stanza when he came down the right side, cut into the middle of the ice and deposited the puck past Chester to give the visitors a big three-goal lead.  And Panthers Ben Meek continued the scoring spree when he managed to pop his first of the year at the 12:54 mark.  Wolves sniper Max Mois finished off what might have been the prettiest goal of the evening taking a cross ice pass before calmly sliding the puck into a yawning Panthers cage to pull the Wolves within three once again.  But it would be the Panthers who would claw back the momentum when Zack Smith gave his team a 5-1 lead very late in the 2nd period.

It would be the final minute of the 2nd period that would leave those in attendance buzzing throughout the second intermission and throughout a quiet 3rd period.  A melee broke out in front of the Westshore net with under a minute to go in the second and before order was restored several players from both teams would be ordered to the showers.  And once the game had resumed the biggest check of the night was reserved by a Wolves forward who raced down the left side at full speed and smoked Panthers goaltender Stephen Heslop who was out near the faceoff dot playing the errant puck.  This set off a second melee just as the period was to end.

The two teams came back for the 3rd frame with the Panthers on an extended two-man power play and they made no mistake cashing in two more times on goals by Daniel Welch and Spencer Loverock to give tthe Panthers a big 7-1 lead.  Panthers elected to yank Heslop at this point in favour of Justin Samra and Samra held the Wolves off the scoresheet for the final fifteen minutes making several great saves along the way.

"There was a lot of emotion out there tonight," confirmed Panthers Hockey Ops Pete Zubersky.  "It's not too often that you see this type of hockey but nobody was hurt and that's important.  One of our guys had to go to VGH for repairs due to a cut above his eye but sometimes that happens and, as I told the young fellow, it was nowhere near the heart.  The Wolves have a good team, a gritty team and I am pretty sure they were frustrated and it obviously boiled over.  I'm really pleased with how our guys stuck together.  We are a young group that have a lot to learn about playing with heart and grit and a game like this moves the development process along.  Sometimes Junior hockey is a tough game, sometime a tough and emotional game as it was tonight.  There are no hard feelings, it's just hockey and although I am sure the games won't be as chippy as this one, we play the Wolves six more times in the regular season and they will all be a grind.  We grew as a team this evening."

The Panthers are back at it on Friday night when they play host to the visiting and league-leading Victoria Cougars.  Zubersky has often said in the past month that it would take ten games to figure it out and Friday's contest will be the team's tenth.  The club is expecting a big crowd to pour into the Panorama Recreation Centre with the puck set to drop at 7:30 pm.