Playoffs looming for Panthers

In their last game of the regular season on Friday night, the Peninsula Panthers defeated the Kerry Park Islanders 3-2 in an overtime win. But the real test will come this week at the Panthers prepare to face off against their rivals, the Victoria Cougars, in round one of the VIJHL playoffs.

The Cougars finished the regular season with a 45-1-2 record, and although the task seems daunting for the upcoming best of seven series, the Panthers are revved up to play their best hockey, said Hockey Operations Manager, Pete Zubersky.

“There might not be one person on Vancouver Island who thinks that we have a chance to win this series”, said Zubersky.

“We are definitely the David in this David and Goliath story, but we are anxious for this series to start. We played the Cougars hard a couple of times this season, but they have yet to see our best hockey.”

The Panthers open the series in Victoria on Thursday night and then play at the Panorama Recreation Centre on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. for the second game of the series. Game three happens Sunday in Esquimalt, while the Panthers will host game four on Monday evening at Panorama.

As the regular season wrapped up last week, the Panthers held their annual awards dinner last Saturday night. Notable award winners were 16-year-old Nathan Looysen who won Rookie of the Year and Josh Adkins and Stephen Heslop who were awarded the shared the Most Valuable Player award.

Visit www.ppanthers.bc.ca for details on all the awards and winners.