The Peninsula Panthers are continuing their home winning streak, this time dispatching the visiting Saanich Braves 4-2 last Thursday night.
The club has only been on the wrong side of the scoreboard at home twice this 2013/14 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League regular season, which has lodged them in second place in the VIJHL Southern Division.
It was Saanich Braves’ Josh Poland who put the team on the board Thursday night at the 15:41 mark of the first frame.
After that, something set a fire under the Panthers and they came out for the second period scoring three unanswered goals (Tate Coughlin scored twice as well as Kyle Richardson) to take control of the game after 40 minutes of play.
Panthers’ goalie Joey Karrer stopped 17 of 19 shots on goal.
On the weekend the Panthers travelled to Kerry Park to take on the Islanders Saturday night but lost the hard-fought battle 4-2.
Scoring for the Panthers were Iver Oedegaard and Kai Turner who was an emergency call-up for the game.
“On Thursday we were full value for the win,” said Head Coach Brian Passmore.
“But we went up to Mill Bay and although we outshot the Islanders again, we came up short. We don’t have enough traffic in front of the net and although I keep saying this until I’m blue in the face, this message does not sink in. We need our leadership to step up and make the guys more accountable. If we want to go a long way in the playoffs, we have to get those habits nailed down right now.”
The Panthers are back at home this Friday evening when they host the Islanders.
The puck is set to drop at 7:30 p.m. and fans are asked to bring a new stuffed animal in a plastic bag for the team’s Teddy Bear Toss. All the stuffed animals will go to Saanich Peninsula Secret Santas’ Toys for Tots.