Panthers score 4 short-handed goals in dispatching the Campbell River Storm 7-6

Although the Peninsula Panthers is a team laden with rookies - 18 of them to be exact - two veterans and brothers Dane and Logan Gibson tallied five goals between them to lead the Panthers to a heart-stopping 7-6 win at the Panorama Recreation Centre on Friday evening.  The Panthers win, coupled with a tight 3-2 Saanich Braves loss at the hands of the Victoria Cougars, vaulted the "Cats" past the Westshore Wolves and put them into a 2nd place deadlock with the Braves in the Southern Division of the VIJHL.  The young Panthers are starting to figure it out, and seemingly so are the Gibson brothers.

The Storm had just completed wholesale changes at the top, shuffling out almost the entire coaching staff just days prior to Friday evenings affair and the Panthers were expecting the visitors to be excited and ready to play.  And they were not wrong nor were they disappointed.  The Storm came out of the gate like a...well, like a Storm and quickly jumped out to a one-goal lead on a Tyson Rennie marker with only seven minutes having been played.  But fireplug Cole Golka who seems to have turned the corner got the equalizer at the 16:47 mark with helpers on the play going to 16-year-old Connor Logan and 17-year-old Will Finlay.  But the Storm were not done as Ryan White blasted one from the point, a shot that flew over the left shoulder of Panthers goaltender Justin Samra.  The shot did not appear to be screened and it might be one that Samra would have liked to have had a redo on. 

The Storm took a two-goal lead early in the 2nd when Rennie was left all alone on Samra and made no mistake going high to Samra's glove side.  Although Samra had played decent to this point, coach Rob Armstrong chose to give him the hook which was more to do with the Panthers level of play rather than Samra's performance.  The move seemed to spark the club and their compete level was certainly elevated after the wakeup call.  Midway through the 2nd frame Dane Gibson, on helpers from Golka and Cody Breitenstein, made it a 3-2 game on the power play.  Breitenstein blasted the puck from the left point and Golka deflected it just wide of the net.  The puck bounced off the end wall and onto Gibson's stick just behind the goal line.  Gibson quickly moved the puck to the side of the net and, before Storm Goaltender Jordan Salas could come react, the puck was behind him and the Panthers were in celebration mode.  But the fireworks had just began.  Gibson went down the wing and cut in on Salas and after the Storm stopper slid across the top of the crease following Gibson, the Panthers power forward slammed on the breaks and then popped the puck into a yawning Storm cage.  And only 50 seconds later and still killing the same penalty, Golka threaded a long pass through the neutral zone between two Storm defenders to send Logan Gibson in along on Salas.  At this point Salas had seen enough of the brothers however Gibson - the Logan variety - made no mistake blasting a wrist shot over the glove of Salas to give the Panthers a 4-3 lead.  But the fun was still not over.  At the 18:22 mark Adkins was sent in alone on a nifty pass from Spencer Loverock and he would make no mistake, once again while killing a penalty and this time the partisan Peninsula crowd erupted.  This marker chased Salas to the showers and 20-year-old goaltender Curtis Bagnall entered the game.  One would think that this was enough excitement for the night, let alone the 2nd period, however the short-handed goal scoring spree was far from being over. Only 48 seconds later the Gibsons would strike again.  At 19:14 Dane Gibson intercepted a pass inside the Storm zone and feathered a pass to his brother Logan who was situated at the faceoff dot just to the right of Bagnall, but the puck was not flat on the ice when it reached Logan Gibson.  He one-timed the puck but instead of getting heavy wood, the puck fluttered and floated and knuckleballed over the left shoulder of a shocked Bagnall and once again the crowd errupted as the Panthers took a 6-3 lead and once again the goal was scored with the Panthers killing a penalty.  The wind was out of the Storm.....NOT!!  Still on the Power Play the Storm raced into the Panthers end and with 21 seconds left in the period and only 25 seconds after the Logan Gibson marker, Joel Smith managed to bang one past Heslop to make it a 6-4 game going into the break.

Brandon MacDonald tallied for the Storm only 3 minutes into the 3rd frame but Dane Gibson had the answer when he floated down the wing and wristed one past Bagnall to once again give the Panthers their two-goal lead.  Callup Colin Blake scored on the Power Play for the visitors midway through the 3rd frame but this would be the last goal of the night as the Panthers skated off with a bizzare and exciting 7-6 win.

"I've never seen anything like it," remarked Panthers Hockey Ops boss Pete Zubersky.  "It was amazing, simply amazing."  The Panthers outshot the Storm 48-38.  Dane Gibson was named the game's 1st star, Storm's Jon Brumwell the 2nd star and Logan Gibson collected the 3rd star.

The two teams go at it again on Sunday afternoon in Campbell River to complete the home-and-home two-game weekend.  The Panthers will then take on the Saanich Braves in Saanich on Wednesday before returning home to face the Westshore Wolves next Friday.  Brothers Act anyone??