Panthers Reload with Young Guns

That might not seem significant, until you consider that the Panthers play in a league that this year allows players born as early as 1992 – or when you consider that several of Peninsula's VIJHL rivals have loaded up on the more seasoned vintage of veterans.

So when Panthers' co-owner and director of hockey operations Pete Zubersky says youth will be served at Panorama this season, he isn't talking about the concession stand.  “The young kids are teachable and they still have goals – to make it to Junior A, the NCAA and beyond,” Zubersky says. “They're easy to coach. They want to learn. They are there to learn.”

Zubersky speaks from experience. During he and wife Coreen's first stint as Panthers' owners between 1999 and 2006, the team was regularly built on the youth blueprint.  In fact, when the Zuberskys bought the team from Mark Wagstaff in 1999, they iced a lineup that included no less than a dozen 16-year-olds.  “The league back then was all 19- and 20-year-olds,'' Zubersky recalls. “We lost our first few games, then we went on a tear and made it to the league finals.  After that, we always went after the youngest kids. We regularly had between six and ten 16-year-olds.”

Over those seasons, the Panthers featured a number of notable young skaters. Eventual junior A and NCAA sniper Kyle Greentree played with the team as a 16-year-old before going on to a lengthy pro career. So did both Ryan O'Byrne, now a hulking defenceman with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, and Jamie Benn, now a winger with the Dallas Stars. Jordie Benn, brother of Jamie and now a member of the Dallas pro organization as well, skated for the Panthers as a 17-year-old defenceman. Taylor Ellington and Brian Bridges, both of whom went on to pro hockey careers, were Panthers at the tender age of 15.

Fifteen-year-olds are no longer allowed in the league. And for a few seasons now, VIJHL teams have been permitted to sign a maximum of two 16-year-olds. So the Panthers' youth blueprint has been altered since the Zuberskys and John Wilson took over the club ownership again in December 2011.

Still, this year's team includes seven 17-year-olds, a large number for any junior hockey organization.  Eighteen of Peninsula's roster players are 18 or younger.  The team also has a number of young affiliates who regularly skate with the Panthers.  Consider them future Young Guns in training.

Zubersky says there are plenty of positives to having a roster dominated by younger players.  The off-ice issues are fewer. Most of the players are still in school, so more friends and family tend to come to the games. And then there's this: A younger team always improves more than an older squad.

“You're guaranteed to be better as the year goes on,'' Zubersky says. “You struggle the first little while and then, all of a sudden, they get it.  It is difficult to compete, however, throwing 17-year-olds against 20-year-olds when the powerhouse teams such as the Victoria Cougars load up their rosters with experience come playoff time.  The Panthers don't deviate from their vision.  Once they commit to the youngsters, they don't jettison them in crunch time.  That might hurt the Panthers' competitive level in the short term but, long-term, it makes the Peninsula a place where young talent comes to develop.  “The drawbacks to this youth approach are zero – except for one,'' Zubersky admits. “It's really hard to win it all.”

Panthers' head coach Rob Armstrong has an interesting vantage point.  Two years ago, he was an assistant coach when the Panthers won the Cyclone Taylor Cup championship.  The Zuberskys weren't involved then and the lineup was much older.  “For me, personally, I just want to work and develop hockey players,'' Armstrong says.  “Half the problem with a lot of hockey players is that they think they know everything.  But these are good, intelligent, young kids.  They are hard-working.  They are going to improve over the course of the season.”

And many will move on.  That's the other reality of building with youth.  The exceptional ones won't stay at Junior B. They'll move up, to Junior A, the WHL and college.  Maybe even the NHL, like the Benns and O'Byrne.”  That's just fine with the Panthers. In fact, that's what they want.

“We have a reputation as a good place for young players to develop,” Zubersky says. “And I think people want to see that when they come to games.  They want to see that potential out there on the ice.”