Panthers advance to Round 2 with 7-3 win over the Westshore Wolves

The Peninsula Panthers and the Westshore Wolves skated out for their warm-up at the usual 7:00 pm time and there was a bit more of a jump in both teams.  For the Panthers, a win would put the final nail in the Wolves' coffin and they would move on to the 2nd round of the VIJHL playoffs, the most likely opponent being the Comox Valley Glacier Kings.  And for the Wolves it was win, or their season was over and that is always a huge motivator.

Both teams started the same goaltenders who had gone the entire distance in the series, 20-year-old Matt Chester for the Wolves and 18-year-old Stephen Heslop for the Panthers.  For the Panthers Defencemen Kyle Richardson and Matt Sheeran and forward Connor Logan were all scratches for the game.  Drawing back into the lineup was 17-year-old Braedan Pearce.

The National Anthem was belted out and the puck was dropped on a clean sheet and Game 5 was underway shortly after 7:30 pm.  And it did not take long for the Panthers to hit paydirt.  Pearce made a hit in the neutral ice on a Westshore forward and the puck went deep into the Westshore end.  Cole Glover obtained possession of the puck and dished it to Zack Smith and the 18-year-old sniper zipped his first shot of the game past Chester to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.  The two teams exchanged a couple of chances with the Panthers getting the best of it and at the 15:14 mark Jackson Skerratt again beat Chester to give the Club a 2-0 1st period lead and that would  be the end of of the scoring in the frame.  Chester faced  17 shots and Heslop 5 in the first frame.

The 2nd period was also dominated by the Panthers as they threw another 17 shots at Chester, while the Wolves tested Heslop with 9 chances.  And it was the Panthers who extended their lead to three goals, when after 40 minutes were officially in the books, the tally on the scoreboard was 5-2 Panthers.  Hulking forward Grayson Vickers opened the scoring after the line of Vickers, Tylor Branzen and Reece Costain banged and crashed and dominated in the Wolves' end.  Vickers found himself all alone as he walked down the slot and drifted a snapshot past the surprised netminder.  It looked like the end might be near however, the Wolves clearly had other ideas.

Connor Krupa opened the scoring for the Wolves at 3:29 on the powerplay and then Kyle Richter got the Wolves within a goal when Richter beat Heslop after pouncing on a rebound.  But perhaps the game changed midway through the period when Sean Buchanan wristed a shot towards Chester after getting a pass from Brett Sjerven.  The puck came in just under the crossbar and before it reached Chester, the diminutive and feisty Jordan Law managed to tip it to beat the netminder.  And then late in the period at the 17:54 mark, Spencer Loverrock gathered in a loose puck puck in the neutral zone and blasted down the left side and wristed a shot to the top blocker side of Chester to set off a party in the stands.  The Panthers had  several  other chances however, there was no further scoring.

The 3rd frame was once again dominated by a determined Panthers squad.  Perhaps the game, for all intents and purposes, was over when Jackson Skerratt slammed a one-timer past Chester at the 1:46 mark and when big and rugged Reece Costain beat the bewildered Wolves netminder it gave the Panthers a 7-2 lead and it was just a question of running out the clock.  Connor Krupa scored on the powerplay at 16:37.  The two Clubs played out the remainder of the contest with none of the usual extra curricular activities that are often seen in a knockout game, and this followed with the customary handshakes.

The three stars in the affair were Vickers, Sjerven and Law.  Heslop stopped 18 of 21 shots while Chester was good on 38 of 45 attempts.

The Panthers are now waiting to see who their 2nd round opponent is, but in all likelihood it looks to be the Comox Valley Glacier Kings.  Please follow the Panthers Website or vijhl.com for updates on the schedule.