This Friday night the Peninsula Panthers will host the Victoria Cougars, and if the game is anything like the double overtime win by the Panthers at home two weeks ago, fans will want to be there, said hockey operations manager Pete Zubersky.
The Panthers went down 3-0 in the exciting end-to-end game on Oct. 11 but after scoring two quick power play goals right at the end of the second period and then knotting the game 3-3 early in the final 20 minutes, the stage was set for Tate Coughlin’s winning goal in the second five-minute overtime.
Zubersky said it was a game that fans were intensely involved in.
“It was such a strange night,” he said.
“We always have a ton of prizes for our fans and I have hardly ever seen prizes go unclaimed in the 11 years we have done this.
“But that night not one prize was claimed because the fans were so tuned into the game.”
The Panthers and Cougars have met three times this season, each team winning a game in double overtime and the Cougars winning the other in regulation after salting away the victory in the final eight seconds with an empty net insurance marker.
“The games have had a ton of bite to them,” said Zubersky.
“I have always said that hockey is an emotional game for emotional people and the three games have lived up to all the hype.
“I look for our kids to come out from the opening face off and play their hearts out.”
The Panthers did not fair well this past week going into Saanich last Wednesday and coming out with a 4-4 tie before dropping a home-and-home series last Friday and Sunday with the Campbell River Storm.
The Panthers take on the Cougars at 7:30 p.m. at Panorama Recreation Centre.