In what continues to become the norm as of late, the Peninsula Panthers split a pair of weekend games.
Last Thursday night, the club travelled up Island to Nanaimo and blew out the Buccaneers by a 7-1 count and looked to be clicking on all cylinders. But the following evening in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre, a workmanlike effort fell just short as they dropped a 3-2 decision at the hands of the Kerry Park Islanders.
There were times where Cats’ players seemed reluctant to go to the blue paint in front of both nets and in the end, that refusal played in the loss.
Luka Jansen van Rensburg and Cam Sneek led the offensive outburst Thursday evening with two goals apiece while singles came off the sticks of Tristan Rosenblood, Evan Crawford and Ethan Lingard. Tanner Ferrill picked up the win between the pipes and was solid over the 60 minutes in blocking 13 of 14 Bucs shots tossed in his direction.
At home in front of a partisan crowd on Friday, Carson Harris and Lukas Preweda each scored and goaltender Silas Currie was outstanding in blocking 40 of 43 shots, but the effort fell just short when the final buzzer sounded, leaving a disappointed fanbase heading into the night to their vehicles.
“We need to put forth a bigger effort than we are getting right now, we simply need to pay a bigger price,” quipped Panthers owner and governor Pete Zubersky. “The line between winning and losing this season is razor sharp and quite frankly we are putting in just enough effort to win silver each night. Silver does not get it done and our guys have to do some soul searching. We need way more out of our veteran group. They are supposed to be our leaders and right now they are letting us down. We have been needing to scratch players who should be in the lineup so as to send a message. We are hurt by their lack of leadership and then we are hurt again having them sit out, which clearly hurts our chances each night. We have three big South Division tilts and we travel up to Campbell River on Dec. 22 before the Christmas Break. These are four big games and we need to make a statement as a group in these next four games.”
The Cats will play in the West Shore against the Wolves on Friday night and will be back home for a rare Saturday night affair when the Saanich Predators come in for a visit. The Panthers are in a heated race in the South Division with both of these clubs and although wins will be tough to come by, they are a must. And leadership from the veterans will clearly be a very big part of the narrative. The puck is set to drop at 7:30 p.m.