Panthers continue winning ways on the road dumping the Campbell River Storm in a 6-5 shootout victory

The Peninsula Panthers travelled to Campbell River to face the Storm in the back end of a home-and-home series and after 60 minutes of regulation and 5 more minutes of overtime, the two teams were still tied at 5-5 as they prepared for the shootout.  The game was highly entertaining for the 750 in attendance and it was too bad that someone would go home with a loss but, fortunately for the Panthers, it would not be them.

Stephen Heslop who made the start for the Panthers was perfect in the shootout blocking all three Storm attempts.  Zack Smith - who scored the winning goal in the only other shootout the Club has been involved in this season - was the first shooter for the Panthers and he ripped one past Storm Goaltender Jordan Salas.  Dane Gibson was the 2nd shooter for the Panthers and his shot was turned away but the "Cats" would not need a 3rd shot, the fat lady was singing loud and clear.  The game featured plenty of excitement as the two Clubs raced up and down the sheet all night long and at the end of 65 minutes of hockey the Panthers held a 46-44 edge in shots.  The Storm had five power-play opportunites while the Panthers enjoyed 4 chances with the man advantage.

The Clubs had completed their warm-ups at the start of the game and the ice was greased and ready to go however, missing from this scene was the reffing crew.  They must have forgot to turn on their alarm clocks but after arriving they quickly dressed and the teams went back out for a short 7-minute warmup....the second one.  The National Anthem was boomed out and then the puck dropped, albeit, an hour late.  But the wait would be worth it for the Panthers who have now put a string of 5 wins in a row and 7 wins in their last 8 games.  This win pulled the Team into a 2nd place tie with South Division opponent, the Saanich Braves and sets the stage for a fairly significant tilt set for the George Pearkes Arena in Saanich on Wednesday evening.

The Panthers had several players out of the lineup for a miriad of reasons including big Brett Clarke, silky-smooth Austin Singhera, Club Captain Patrick Croome and Brett Sjerven.  Clarke hurt his knee in an off-ice incident just prior to the Team's departure earlier in the morning and as such, there was no time to call an affiliate to fill a roster spot.  But there would be no excuses on the afternoon.

The Storm were playing their 3rd game in 3 nights but it was the Panthers who seemed to be the more tired team, perhaps due to the 4-hour bus ride up and the subsequent hour delay.  The home squad opened the scoring with only 29 seconds left in the 1st period when Scotty Salberg put a power-play marker past Heslop.  But Dane Gibson, who has been white hot the past several games, found paydirt once again when he fired one past Salas with exactly 8 minutes gone in the frame.  Josh Adkins picked up the assist on the play.  But the Storm went to the power-play once again and this time Brady Janzen would solve Heslop at the 10:25 mark.  Adkins knotted the score at two with assists going to Cole Golka and Dane Gibson and then added two more power-play tallies of their own when Cole Glover scored from Gibson and Adkins at the 15:15 mark and Golka added another at 19:20 with apples going to Connor Logan and Glover.  This might have been the prettiest goal of the evening, Logan putting some sauce on the puck from behind the net and Golka wristing one to the top of the Storm cage.  The two teams came out for the 3rd with the Panthers holding a 4-2 lead but Storm's Colin Blake scored an unassisted goal at 2:15 to cut the lead to one.  It would be Golka only 12 seconds later on assists from Gibson and Zack Smith.  And less than a minute later Storm sniper Tyson Rennie scored and at 4:40 Brady Janzen tied it up at five apiece.

The two teams went back and forth the rest of the way and through the five minutes of Overtime but the winner would not be decided until the shootout.

Panthers Tracks...Cole Golka had an outstanding trio of games this past weekend scoring 4 goals and adding 5 assists...Dane Gibson also had a productive weekend scoring 6 times and adding 3 helpers in wins over the Buccaneers in Nanaimo on Thursday, the Storm at the Peninsula on Friday and this afternoon in Campbell River...Josh Adkins had his most productive game of the season on Sunday with a goal and two assists in the first 35 minutes of the game...after going 3-4 after their first 7 games the Club has won 7 of their last 8 games...the team will take Monday off and will get back to practice Tuesday evening to prep for Wednesday...after playing their last five games against North Division opponents, the Panthers will now return to the South to play Saanich, Westshore, Kerry Park and Victoria before again heading North to face Comox on November 3rd...Panthers have pulled 4 points ahead of the Westshore Wolves in the tightly contested South Division and will host this same Wolves Team for an important tilt on Friday at the Panorama Recreation Centre...Cole Glover played defence for the Panthers for the first time this year, filling in for a depleted back end.