Good Evening Hockey Fans,
Welcome back to the Panorama Recreation Centre for another big tilt against the Westshore Wolves. We currently trail the Wolves by two points and looking forward at our scheduled games the rest of this month, the game this evening seems bigger than a 4-pointer if that is possible. We have the Saanich Braves and Victoria Cougars on the dance card for the rest of this month which puts even more importance on the game which is just about ready to go.
What a busy time we have had over the last 8 days both on and off the ice. Last Thursday we tangled with the Braves here at the Panorama and lost a tight one by a 4-3 count. The game was one that could have gone either way however perhaps experience played a role in the Braves win. Looking at the two rosters, they are a full two years older than our squad but the games are getting closer and closer as the days and weeks pass by and I am feeling good about that. For Rob Armstrong, it was his last game with the Panthers Organization. Rob called me last Wednesday and we met for a coffee and a long fireside chat. He let me know that he was moving on to a full-time job with the BC Hockey office on Oldfield Road in Central Saanich and our entire group is very happy for him. Rob sent me an email Thursday evening to say that the new job is going well and that he is just getting his feet wet at the moment. He is in charge of the High Performance Program and although it sounds like it will be pretty exciting, he did say that he sure does miss the cold air and the loud whistles of the rink already. After meeting Rob in the afternoon I met with Brian Passmore in the evening as we watched the Westshore Wolves and the Victoria Cougars. We had a great conversation and Brian will now be the new Head Coach of the Club as we move forward. Ben King will continue on the bench along side Brian and at this point we will not be adding a third coach to the staff, rather will let the dust settle with what should be a very smooth transition.
Last Sunday we headed up to Campbell River and ended up on the wrong side of a 3-1 score as the Storm put a cap on the game when they scored into an open net as Josh Round had been pulled for an extra attacker. The game was a frustrating one and it seemed like we could not manage to put two passes together the whole night. And in the end we all got back on the bus and headed down Island on a rainy Sunday night not feeling too good about one that we let get away. On the bright side, Josh Round was better than solid the entire game and gave us a chance to get points on an evening when we really did not deserve any. As you recall, Josh was just recently obtained from the Comox Valley Glacier Kings and he has not disappointed. He won the game two weeks ago when we played these same Wolves and tonight he once again will get the start looking for the same results.
Two nights ago we headed to Saanich to take on the Braves and once again it was a great game. Stephen Heslop started between the pipes for us and for the first 40 minutes we looked very strong although both teams started the 3rd period tied at 2-2. It would be the Braves who would score the only marker of the 3rd period and although we had some great scoring chances along the way to the final buzzer, there would be no more cheering and the final went the way of the Braves 3-2. The kids competed hard, again we are so close to moving our development to the next level. At the start of the season the Braves were head and shoulders better than us but I think it will just take that one win over them to give our guys the confidence to play even better. We will get that chance in two days when they come into the Panorama this Sunday afternoon for a 1:30 pm start, that’s right....Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pm!
This game is our annual Peninsula Minor Hockey Appreciation game and it will feature a 3rd jersey that we have made up for one game only. After the game is over and when the Braves have left the ice, we will quickly set up a table at Centre Ice for the “Jersey Giveaway.” 23 names will be drawn from a container which will hold the name of every PMHA player who is in attendance and as each of the 23 names are pulled the winners will come down onto the ice until all 23 winners are present. The winners’
names will be placed in a container and this is when the fun will really start. Another container will hold the names of the Peninsula Panthers players. One of the names of the 23 winners will be pulled and then a name from the Peninsula Panthers container will be drawn. The Peninsula Panthers player whose name is drawn will skate over to the PMHA winner and he will put his jersey on the winner. We will take a bunch of photos and I can already tell you that the smiles will be ear-to-ear on both the PMHA kids as well as our players. This game is clearly my favourite of the regular season, please come out and join us for the special Sunday afternoon game. If you are going to be in attendance and are a regular at Panthers games it might be a real good idea to arrive around 1:00 pm if you are hoping to sit in your regular seat. I anticipate that we will have an energetic and packed building so please get here just a bit earlier than normal.
A bit more on the Club....Forward Cody Allison was banged up in Campbell River and left during the 2nd period of play up there. He is out tonight and most likely won’t return until next Friday. Brett Sjerven didn’t manage to finish the game in Saanich on Wednesday evening and will be out for at least a week or longer. His injury is a painful one however it does not look like he can hurt himself by playing so it is just a matter of being able to control and handle the pain, he may be back in next Friday, we will see next week. These are two Peninsula Minor Hockey products and I know they both are really upset about not playing tonight and are especially rattled about having to miss the game on Sunday afternoon. Both will take part in the ceremony after Sunday’s game. We have had a few guys stepping up as of late but I would say that
our best player has probably been #21 Cole Golka. Cole has been putting up the points as of late and is working nicely on a line with Josh Adkins and Daniel Welch. These three guys are really starting to come into their own and hopefully they will be a force tonight as we get ready to do battle with the Wolves.
It is just about time for the curtain to go up and the puck to come down and so I hope you too are ready to make some noise. We have seen the attendance coming around to where it was in years gone by, seeing all the young fans starting to come back once again. It is one year since our group has been back with the team and we could not do it without you.
Pete Zubersky
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