The Peninsula Panthers are finding points hard to come by as of late and the tough sledding is clearly a direct result of a banged-up roster.
And in a rare Saturday evening game in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre, the club managed get a single point coming via a shootout loss coming against the visiting Saanich Predators.
A pre-Christmas crowd filtered into the barn just before 7:30 p.m. and were rewarded for their attendance with an end-to-end nailbiter that took 60 minutes of regulation time, five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime and finally a shootout to determine the winner.
Rowan Cairns and Ryan Grambart each tallied for the home side while Jack Westhaver and Kyle Erickson replied for the visitors. Ty Barrie beat Panthers starter Tanner Ferrill in the 3-man shoot out while his counterpart Jaden Vanderlee was perfect against the three Panthers shooters in Cairns, Grambart and Carson Harris.
Harris was the final shooter for the Cats and needed to beat Vanderlee to extend the contest. Harris sauntered in from the left side and then blistered a snapshot that beat the Predators stopper but he did not beat the post as the disk clanged off the iron and careened into the corner.
Vanderlee picked up the win and was good on 24 of 26 shots sent his way over 65 minutes, while Ferrill was collared with the loss in stopping 31 of 33 shots sent in his direction. Cole Friesen was named the Predators player of the game while Ferrill was the well-deserved selection for the Cats.
“I thought we showed up tonight, albeit, we were short six really key guys to our lineup due to injuries,” said Panthers owner Pete Zubersky. “The injury status is getting old and we are looking to get to the Christmas break after two more road games next week. I thought with the group we were able to ice we saw a dogmatic effort and I was proud of how hard we played for the most part. There were a couple passengers and we still need to address that if we want to have a great stretch run and a protracted playoff appearance. I believe we have a group that can challenge for a championship and it always comes down to the will of each player. But the game against the Predators was a good place to start.”
The Panthers hit the road on Thursday in Victoria against the Cougars and head to Campbell River the following night to take on the Storm. The stretch run will then start after the break when the Panthers are back at home to host the Victoria Cougars on Friday, Jan. 5.