Wolves howl after knocking off Panthers 6-5

A Panthers lineup ladened with four affiliate players wandered out of the night and into the unfriendly confines of the Bear Mountain Arena to face off against the Westshore Wolves in VIJHL action on Wednesday evening.  And after trailing for most of the first two periods, they exploded for three markers in the 3rd frame and it looked like they were all home and cooled with a win under their belts.  But the Wolves had other ideas on the night and when Kyle Richter tallied with two minutes left to go in regulation to draw the Wolves within a goal at 5-4.  And when Wolves leading scorer Brett Lervold whipped one past Panthers goaltender Stephen Heslolp with less than two seconds left on the clock, it set the stage for Wolves Tyler Smith to put on the cape with the large "S" on the chest and beat Heslop at 4:33 of overtime to cap off a dramatic overtime victory.

Scoring for the Panthers in the game were Nick Kean, Connor Logan with a pair, Tate Coughlin and Affiliate callup Grayden Hohl.  Heslop was a bit pourous on the evening allowing 6 of 30 shots to elude him.  In the other end, Matt Chester won the battle of the goaltenders blocking 39 of 44 Panthers attempts on goal.

"I suppose it started last night in practice," explained a disappoionted Head Coach Brian Passmore.  "We were not focused at practice and tonight we got what we deserved.  It is disappointing when players in this league show up to games and just think they can win without doing all the little things throughout the week.  We play the Braves in Saanich on Friday and I hope most of our guys can bring their "A" game and then go on the Christmas break feeling good about themselves and about the team."

Captain Brett Sjerven was in the stands sitting with injured defencemen Matt Sheeran and Spencer Loverock and former Panthers sniper Nate Looysen who was back on the Christmas break from the Kamloops Blazers.  Cody Allison and Jordan Law were attending UVIC writing tests.   Reece Costain was also in the stands finishing off his final game of a two-game suspension.

Sjerven, Sheeran, Costain, Allison and Law are expected to draw back into the lineup on Friday while Loverock is still sidelined with a hand injury and may be out for a protracted period of time.  "Im pretty frustrated right now," explained Loverock.  "I thought I would be back by now but I am going to get it looked at again tomorrow."  Perhaps the best gift that the smooth skating defenceman could receive would be health in the New Year, something that most of the Panthers players would like to see.

"We have been pretty beaten up," explained Pete Zubersky.  On Friday we might be the closest we have been to having a healthy lineup for at least a month or six weeks and it would be nice to get a couple more wins in December to help put some distance between us and the teams that are breathing down our necks.  It's so funny how every game over the past two years between us and the Wolves have been usually a one-goal game and tonight was no different.

The Panthers travel to George Pearkes on Friday night when the visit the Braves and will then be on a break until next Friday night when the same Braves Club invade the Panorama Recreation Centre.  The Braves have had several key players return to their lineup as of late and are just coming off an exciting 2-0 win over the Victoria Cougars so the Panthers should have their hands full.

Panthers Tracks....Tate Coughlin just recently was inked to a Western Hockey League contract by the Kelowna Rockets this past week....Logan continues to rack up points for the Panthers....after allowing two goals Heslop was pulled and was spoken to by Passmore before being inserted back in goal after the next whistle....