Feb. 14th vs. Kerry Park Islanders - Hockey Ops.

Good Evening Hockey Fans,
Happy Valentine’s day and a big hello hockey fans out here on the Peninsula.  Tonight we face the visiting Kerry Park Islanders in what will be our final Regular Season game of this 2013/14 season.  Tonight we will be breaking out our Special-Edition 3rd Jersey made for tonight only and after the game, 23 of them will be gifted to 23 Peninsula Minor Hockey Association players during an on-ice ceremony.  To take the jersey home, if your name is drawn the winner will have to be in the building so hang in there when the final buzzer sounds as the fun will just be getting set to go.  I think you will get a kick out of these ones.  They obviously are around the Valentine’s Day theme, hopefully the result tonight will be a rosey one and I also hope that our Club plays with a lot of “Heart(s).”

I am going to speak more about this game and what implications it has on the Peninsula Panthers and the upcoming playoffs, but first I wanted to remind everyone about our annual AWARD’S DINNER which takes place tomorrow night at the Glen Meadows Golf and Country Club on McTavish Rd at the intersection of West Saanich Rd.  Folks will start to arrive around 4:30 pm and we will sit down and enjoy a deluxe buffet at exactly 5:30 pm.  The dinner will be followed by the awards presentation portion of the evening, always one of my favourite nights of the year.  We would love if you wanted to join us for the dinner, the cost is $40. and tickets are available in the lobby tonight from Coreen.  Please see her if you have interest in attending.  I can tell you that the food will be off the charts and the evening of festivities will even be better.  Once again, please join us and support the boys on the Club.

OK then, back to tonight.  The game this evening is a very big one for the Club.  We are currently tied for 2nd place in the VIJHL with the Comox Valley Glacier Kings, both teams have 63 points.  We also both have one game remaining in the regular season, the Glacier Kings will wrap up their season tomorrow night when they play host to the Nanaimo Buccaneers.  There are so many possibilities left out there and we could actually finish in 2nd overall or with a loss and Campbell River winning their final two games and Comox winning their remaining game we could actually fall to 4th overall.  Now that is a great league with a ton of parity, it can’t get any better than this.  Yes tonight we have to take care of business and I am hoping that our kids play that way this evening.

After the 1st period, our players will quickly make their way down to the lobby where they will sign autographs for the entire intermission.  We will be handing out free programs for whomever needs them, this is always a great opportunity for our fans to meet our players right up close.  The intermission flies by so if you or your family members want to meet some of the team, head out to the Lobby at the end of the 1st period, there will be a lot of smiling faces.

The Playoff dance partners have now been set both in the South and North Divisions.   I will look at our 1st Round match-up with the Westshore Wolves which will start this coming Monday.  Yes, Game #1 will be this Monday, February 17th right here at the Panorama Recreation Centre.  All our home games will start at 7:30 pm while the games at Bear Mountain will be at 7:00 pm.  The game on the 22nd at Bear Mountain will be at 6:00 pm.  Here is the 1st Round Schedule for our series;

Game 1    Monday, Feb. 17th at 7:30 pm    Wolves @ Panthers
Game 2    Wednesday, Feb. 19th at 7:00 pm   Panthers @ Wolves
Game 3    Friday, Feb. 21st at 7:30 pm       Wolves @ Panthers
Game 4    Saturday, Feb. 22nd at 6:00 pm      Panthers @ Wolves
Game 5    Monday, Feb. 24th at 7:30 pm    Wolves @ Panthers
Game 6    Wednesday, Feb. 26th at 7:00 pm   Panthers @ Wolves
Game 7    Friday, Feb. 28th at 7:30 pm      Wolves @ Panthers

I wanted to take a peek at last week, it was an eventful one indeed.  Last Friday night the Campbell River Storm blew into town and in a great game we ended up coming out on top 5-2 with an empty net goal as part of the story.  It was a must-win.  We then had a trip to the Archie Browning Arena set to go on Sunday for a huge game against the Victoria Cougars, but before that game our team made a quick stop at Bear Mountain Arena where the Victoria Grizzlies were playing the Powell River Kings.  OneMatch blood services were set up in the rink asking people to be tested so that the bone marrow bank might have a larger group of persons to select from.  Young 4-year-old Hannah Day was the spark for this initiative and our Hockey Club was front and centre in the testing.  The target group for bone marrow donors is 17-35 years of age and so our kids were right in this group.  Members from the Saanich Braves and the Westshore Wolves took part in the testing as did the Victoria Gizzlies and the Powell River Kings.  It was pretty awesome to see all of these young men step up and be counted.

The Club then ventured over to play the Cougars and in an emotional and physical game we came out on top 4-1.  The Cougars had already wrapped up 1st place in the VIJHL so the game held more importance to us than to them.  That being said, it was a tough game for both teams and I watched it thinking what a great series it would be if we were to meet in the VIJHL finals once again.  With the win, it put our squad in position to take 2nd overall and when we travelled to Bear Mountain Arena on Wednesday to do battle with the Wolves, this thought was in our head.  But as often happens, it was just not to be.  The Wolves ended up besting us 5-3 after scoring an empty net goal and it left us looking for some help from the Nanaimo Buccaneers as they play the Comox Glacier Kings in the last game of the season.  We have to now take care of business tonight and then see what happens on Saturday in Comox.

As I mentioned earlier, dance partners in the playoffs have been set.  We will play the Wolves in a series that should be hotly-contested.  The Victoria Cougars will play the Kerry Park Islanders in the other South Division Round 1 series and from here our focus heads up Island just a bit.  The Comox Valley Glacier Kings tangle with the Saanich Braves - yes, the Saanich Braves, while the Campbell River Storm and the Nanaimo Buccaneers will go head-to-head in their best-of-seven series.  Let me explain how the Saanich Braves ended up in the North Division Playoffs.  The Braves were in last place in the 5-team South Division however, they had more points in the Regular Season than the Oceanside Generals.  For this reason, the Generals were bounced from taking part in the playoffs and the Braves now slot into the 4th place spot in the North.  The Braves have struggled somewhat and might be in tough in this series.

I will give you my picks in Round 1 of the playoffs.  For starters, our series against the Wolves will be an extremely tough one and we will have our hands full.  I respect their Club very much and hope that our team gets up and plays full out every game.  Without a big effort we could see ourselves sitting on the sidelines, but I do expect we will be ready to go and so this one should be entertaining.  The Cougars and Islanders might be a short series in my mind.  The Islanders moved a lot of key players on the deadline and that may have left them in tough for this series.  I am picking the Cougars to win this one in four straight however, my heart is fully with the Islanders and I would love to see an upset in this one.

In the North it looks like the Comox Valley Glacier Kings are riding into the playoffs on a high, winning a lot of important games down the stretch.  I just cannot see the Saanich Braves beating the Glacier Kings and believe this one will be over quite quickly.  Look for the Glacier Kings to grab a sweep in four straight games to move on.  In the last of four series, the Buccaneers and the Storm are hooked up in what should be an absolute dandy.  The Buccaneers came out of the chutes strongly in September but faded at the midway mark.  They are playing with more spunk and although the Storm are the favourite, the Bucs will not go down easily.  I am picking the Storm over the Bucs in 7.

OK, back to tonight and the game at hand.  Brad Peden of Peden’s RV was gracious enough to once again step up and sponsor the contest this evening.  The Peden’s have been such great friends of the hockey team for many, many years and they really make this game possible.  Last season we were playing the Saanich Braves and due to a Zamboni problem, the ice was damaged and the game could not be played.  Brad Peden was there and obviously it put a real damper on a very special game for all involved.  I hope tonight is just an awesome game tonight and I have no doubt that it will be.  Thank you Brad, you are awesome and this game could not have been a possibility without your continued generosity and unwavering support!

We are starting our Sponsorship drive right now and it will go for the next several months.  Time and time again I have mentioned how key sponsorship dollars are to Junior Clubs around the VIJHL and we are certainly no different.  Thank you to all of our current sponsors and for any of you who are thinking that you might just want to jump on board with us, please do just that.  If you speak to Coreen in the lobby she will direct you to our marketing people and we will find something big or something small that will work for you and your company.  Thanks in advance.

It’s just about time for the puck to drop.  Tonight young Clayton Butler - who plays Peewee hockey in PMHA-will be belting out the tune.  We thought this was an awesome touch for this game.   Thanks for joining us this evening and please come back on Monday night when we open Round 1 vs. the Westshore Wolves.  Enjoy!     Pete Z.