Jan. 17th vs. Saanich Braves - Hockey Ops.

Good Evening Hockey Fans,

Thank you for coming out tonight in support of your Hockey Club, the Peninsula Panthers.  Tonight we tangle once again with the visiting Saanich Braves, a Club who traded a couple of important offensive pieces right at the deadline to the Victoria Cougars.  We had been attempting to land McMullen all season long, it was no secret and we honestly thought that in the end, the Braves would in fact move him our way.  Our coaching staff and ownership were very surprised that we were not in the mix but I suppose that is the way the game of hockey goes.  The Cougars also landed a talented offensive defenceman in Kemler and that should help boost the Cougars chances come playoff time.

Of course we picked up two valuable pieces in Alex Milligan and Tylor Branzsen, and so far they have fit in like a glove with our Club.  Both are very gritty and add more of this to a Club that is already filled with size and grit.  I enjoy watching both of these kids play the game.  Both can score and both threw out a couple of big hits in a 3-1 win last Friday night.  Milligan played with a couple of different players and was a big threat all night long, while Branzsen played on a line with Reece Costain and Spencer Loverock and they were bang and crash for 60 minutes.  I loved it. 
Last Friday I thought our kids played a great game for three periods.  Our big guys were playing big and I loved how physical our big defence was all night long.  Sean Buchanan is really starting to come into his own.  At the start of the season I watched him get beat to the outside as he played the left side on defence.  I remember in our 2nd game of the year he got roasted by Opel in a game up in Oceanside and the puck ended up in the back of our net.  Buchanan had his first tilt of the year a bit later in that game.  I remember talking to him once he was turfed from the game and we discussed how he was beat on the goal.  I explained that he was such a big kid and when he adjusts to the speed of some of the faster forwards in the VIJHL and starts playing a physical game with them, he would be awesome.  He is now starting to look really comfortable at this level and I believe he is ready to move up to Junior A.  I am thrilled for this young kid and his family.  They live in Metchosin and have made the drive out to the Peninsula all season long and Sean has been better each time out.  He is calm and nothing seems to phase him.  I love how when he gets called up to play or practice with the Grizzlies, he does so but his focus always remains with the Peninsula Panthers and that is where his focus should be.  Some kids go up to the next level and when they come back, it takes them time to get their head screwed back on.  I have not seen that with this young fellow.  There have been a lot of kids go through this program and another who was always committed to the Peninsula Panthers was Jamie Benn.  He would go up, play games and come back as charged up as when he left.  Enjoy this big, young defenceman down the stretch and into the playoffs because he will be wearing a different uniform come September.

I wanted to touch just a bit on Braedan Pearce, a big and strong 17-year-old who Coach Brian Passmore made a healthy scratch last Friday night.  Braedan is a young kid that has a high ceiling, this youngster could be very, very good and still has lots of time to make some big noise in the game.  I spoke with Braedan in the stands last Friday and explained that he should be really choked when he gets a healthy scratch behind his name.  The fact is, Pearcy is just too good to allow this to happen and it should never happen again.  I told Braedan that we expect that he will bring a physical element of play to every single game, to every single shift and if he doesn’t do just that, he will be in the stands.  The kid is 200 pounds and hits like a truck but is ineffective when he plays a passive game.  The next four weeks is about getting our kids to understand their roles and to play the role we expect of them.  This is how we can do well down the stretch and this will hopefully turn into a protracted playoff run.  We have added a lot of leadership in the past couple of months and now these 19 and 20-year-olds are expected to grab the room and get more from the players on the Squad.  Every single kid loves to play at this time of year and there is nothing in the world like winning - nobody can take it away from you.

Our most physical player is Reece Costain, that’s just a fact.  The kid is the most honest player in the entire league.  Reece was in a bit of a slump before Christmas but he seemed to come out of his slump after the New Year and was simply outstanding last Friday.  Reece had family commitments tonight and is not in the lineup for that reason.  Also out of the lineup is Jordan Law who received a checking from behind penalty in the last ten minutes of Friday’s game and so is under suspension for one game.  We will have 20 of our own players tonight even with these two guys on the sidelines and I would have to say that right now we are as healthy as we have been since our first game of the season.  I have my fingers crossed that we can keep our health, often the team that avoids the injury bug has the best shot down the stretch and into the playoffs.

We have one card left now that the January 10th carding deadline has passed us by.  What does this mean?  We are allowed to card one more player at any time right up to February 10th if that player was not on a card on January 10th.  For most Clubs, they have used all their cards and so most all of the players are now on a card.  If a player is released now, he is no longer allowed to play on any other team.  We have been in contact with a couple guys and have had a long chat or two with a really talented player, but at this point we still have not been able to pull the trigger.  We are trying to pursue a forward and have room on the roster for one more.  If we don’t get it done we can live with it but if we could somehow beat the bushes and get a good forward or even a very good forward, we certainly would not hesitate to use the final card.  As this is basically our final Club, we had our team photo taken this past Tuesday evening right here at the Panorama Recreation Centre.  I want to thank Gordon Lee Photography who has been with us since day one and has always been as solid as they come.

A bit more on tonight’s affair.  The Saanich Braves sit dead last in the Southern Division of the VIJHL and are slipping further behind the Kerry Park Islanders with each passing week.  The Braves and Islanders each have 10 games remaining in the regular season and so I believe the Islanders will lock up 4th in the South.  The Braves are 10 points up on the floundering Oceanside Generals and looking at the Box Scores last night, they were blasted by the Victoria Cougars.  Should the Generals stay in the basement of the VIJHL, they will be eliminated and the Braves would move to the Northern Division and take the 4th place seed there.  A couple more wins for the Braves would lock up a playoff spot and I know that they would love to do that sooner rather than later.  I look for the Braves to come out hard tonight against our Club and I also expect many of their younger players who are looking to impress their coaching staff will be going full-out this evening.  I expect this to be a very entertaining game as most Braves/Panthers match-ups usually are.  The Braves have added to the fold 20-year-old Jacob Daughtry  and 18-year-old Nyshan Basra in the deal with the Cougars.  I would expect that there might be another player or two going from the Cougars to the Braves after this season.

We will complete our regular season on February 14th, that will be our 48th game of the season.  This is also our Fan Appreciation Game as well as the annual Peninsula Minor Hockey Appreciation game.  As most of you recall, we will crack open a 3rd Jersey for the game and after the contest is over, we will have a draw on the ice and 22 luck PMHA hockey players will be presented with the game worn 3rd Jersey.  I think you will all get a real kick out of this year’s edition.  We have chosen to jump into the spirit of February 14th and so that is a pretty good hint of what to expect when our kids skate out for the warmup.  Coreen thought I had lost most of my marbles when she saw them but I really believe they will be a huge hit.  Make sure you mark that date down, Valentines Day!!  Make sure you bring your sweetheart.

And finally, I wanted to invite each and every one of you to our wrap up Awards Dinner which will take place the day after Valentine’s Day.  On February 15th we will hold our dinner at the Glen Meadows Golf and Country Club which is on McTavish Road near West Saanich Road.  The dinner will cost $40. per plate and this will include tip and gratuity.  It will be the deluxe buffet which is the best meal that Glen Meadows puts out and we would be happy if you the fan are in attendance to enjoy the evening of festivities.  If you are interested, please see Coreen and she will take in the cash and give you a ticket to the event.  The players and staff will arrive at 5:00 pm and dinner is set for 6:00 pm.  This is one of my favourite nights of the year, right up there with the 3rd jersey night.

We are just starting our marketing campaign and as I have often said, it is impossible for the Peninsula Panthers to exist as an entity without great community support.  We have always had that in spades and so we are hoping that this time around it will be exactly the same. 

OK folks, it’s just about time for the curtain to rise on the game tonight between two rivals on the South Island.  Your Panthers are going for our 12th straight win on home ice, sit back and enjoy!

Pete Zubersky