Panthers dumped for first time on home ice

It might have been the best game of the year - it certainly felt that way - however when the final curtain came down on this one on Friday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre, it would be the visiting Victoria Cougars who would walk away with a hard-earned 3-1 win over the Peninsula Panthers. 

All along the Panthers Brass has been speaking of different stages of development this current edition of Panthers would have to go through and the "ten game" mark has been referred to many times as a point when the Club would begin to click.  And those in attendance at this barn burner might be in full agreement.  "The boys are coming together as a unit and playing hard for one another, a true sign of a team on a mission to succeed," stated an emotionally spent Head Coach Rob Armstrong.

Yes, there was a lot of emotion left out there on the sheet and, although the Panthers came out on the short end of the stick, there were many positives that the Club took from the game.

The Cougars opened the scoring on a goal by Garrett Brandsma at the 8:11 mark and this would prove to be the only marker in the period.  The teams went back and forth and the young and seemingly intimidated Panthers club of several weeks ago appeared to have been shelved for a newer version....one that believes they can compete with anyone in the VIJHL.  Gifted defenceman Spencer Loverock beat Cougars netminder Connor Lacouvee, who was just recently acquired by the visitors after a short stint with the Nanaimo Clippers of the VIJHL.  Loverock's goal came with just under three minutes played in the 2nd period and was scored just as a Cougars penalty was about to expire.  Although the two clubs exchanged some good scoring chances, Lacouvee and Panthers starter Stephen Heslop both would not blink and the two teams went to the dressing rooms tied at 1.  An older and markedly more experienced Cougar team came out for the 3rd period and clearly had picked up their intensity and began to carry the play.  Cougars Brody Coulter picked up a loose puck near the right faceoff dot in the Panthers end and he sent a seeing eye wrist shot that eluded Heslop to his glove side with just under five minutes having been played.  And only 12 seconds later Brandsma scored his second of the night to give the Cougars a 3-1 lead and it looked like the visitors might run away and hide.  But the Panthers showed they would not just go away and the club pushed back hard.  They tested Lacouvee many times in the 3rd however on this evening the puck luck would simply not go their way as the Cougars hung on to beat the home cats by the 3-1 count.

"I was really impressed with our intensity and conviction, we came to play hard against a top opponent," said Armstrong.  We pushed the pace and created a ton of chances off of our forecheck and work rate.  The atmosphere at the Panorama Rec Centre was as close to playoff hockey as you will see at this time of year, it was a great high tempo game for the fans to enjoy."

The team will be active on Sunday when they will help out at a car wash to raise money for the Victoria Hospice and will be back on the ice for more game action next Friday night when they play host to the Oceanside Generals.  Puck is set to drop at the usual 7:30 pm start time.

Panthers tracks....Dane Gibson shed the mitts in the 2nd and he won a decision over a Cougars forward....Kathleen Burton joined Pete Zubersky for an on-ice discussion to introduce a partnership between the Peninsula Panthers and the Victoria Hospice prior to the start of the 2nd period....a touching moment during the discussion was when #26 Will Finlay was introduced to the fans....Finlay lost his father Paul to Cancer five years ago to the day and his mother Jenn was in attendance having travelled from Whistler, B.C. to be with her son....Logan Gibson was scratched from the game after he had been nailed with a big hit on Wednesday evening in a greasy affair with the Westshore Wolves....Jonas Horvath was also forced to the shelf on a one-game suspension for some fistic activities on Wednesday in the same game....Josh Adkins was showing some of the effects of an encounter with a "Wolf" - the Westshore variety -  he was supporting a shiner and some stitches just above his left eye....Connor Logan might have made the cutest move of the night when he undressed a Cougars defenceman with a pretty toe-drag deep in the Victoria zone in the dying seconds of the game only to be stoned by Lacouvee from close in....Daniel Welch might not have hit the scoresheet but he did hit Cougars all night with a real workmanlike effort....