Panthers dismantle Bucs 4-2 on First Nation Youth Appreciation Night

It did not start out as a great night but it certainly ended up as one.  At 4:30 pm the Nanaimo Buccaneers were heading down the Island Highway towards the Peninsula when transportation problems hit the Club.  And it was a phone call to Pete Zubersky that set the alarm bells off.  "Yes the Bucs called and said they had bus problems but thought they would be at the rink in time for the game."  And when the VIJHL leading Bucs pulled into the Peninsula Panthers parking lot shortly after 6:30 pm a huge sigh of relief went up, there would be a game on this Friday night.

The two teams took the traditional warmup, albeit, ten minutes late and after a pre-game ceremony to celebrate First Nation Youth on the Peninsula the puck dropped for real.  But it was the Peninsula Panthers who seemed to have "Bus legs" as the visitors were all over the home squad.  And as play had dictated, it was the visitors who opened scoring at the 11:13 mark of the 1st frame when Lynden Eddy beat Panthers netminder Stephen Heslop.  But not was all lost.  On a strange turnover with under a minute to play in the period Sean Buchanan chipped the puck off the boards to Matt Sheeran who in turn moved the puck to Jackson Skerratt.  Skerratt was well in behind the Bucs defence as he had blown a tire deep inside the offensive zone and by the time he recovered the puck was on his stick and he was in alone on Bucs netminder Ryan Waldhaus.  Skerratt made a sweet deke and then going to his forehand made no mistake beating Waldhaus and sending the teams to the room tied at 1-1.

It was all Panthers in the middle stanza.  Brandon Storey started the scoring on helpers form Connor Logan and Skerratt and then Zack Smith added his own tally with Skerratt and Logan again in on the goal.  And late in the 2nd period Logan added one of his own with Buchanan and Skerratt adding helpers on the play to give the Panthers a commanding lead going into the 3rd period.

After a cheap shot Skerratt snapped late in the 3rd stanza and when Grayson Vickers followed up with a shot on a Bucs player on the same play the Buccaneers were back in the contest with a two-man advantage.  The Panthers almost killed off the disadvantage however with only 20 seconds remaining in the penalties Garrett Dunlop tallied for the visitors bringing them within two goals.  But that is as close as they would get.  Walhause was pulled with just a little under two minutes to go but it was all for not and the Panthers skated off with a 4-2 win on the night.

Perhaps the most touching point on the evening was when the entire Panthers squad came back from the dressing room and took an on-ice photo with numerous members of the First Nation folks from the Saanich Peninsula.

Connor Logan, a First Nation member was named the contests' 1st star while Skerratt and Heslop picked up the 2nd and 3rd stars on the evening.

"I think it was our most important win of the season," said Zubersky.  "We were missing Tate Coughlin, Brett Sjerven, Ben Meek, Iver Oedegaard and Cole Glover due to injuries and had Spencer Loverock in Trail with the Nanaimo Clippers and Reece Costain in Chilliwack with the Victoria Grizzlies.  I knew we were in tough going into this one but I think our kids busted their butts all night long.  It was really a great night with so many First Nation people in our building and to get the win topped it right off.  I am proud of our kids and I am proud of our coaching staff.  Considering everything, it was our best win of the season."

The Panthers will be back at it next Friday when they host the same Nanaimo Buccaneers with the puck set to drop at 7:30 pm.