The Peninsula Panthers were involved in a flurry of trades several days before the deadline on January 10 and the new version of the club has an extremely high level of compete.
This past weekend the Cats faced off against two of the hottest teams in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. Although they only managed to take home a single point, both games went down to the wire.
The squad opened a two-goal lead on the visiting Westshore Wolves on a pair of markers Friday (Jan. 12). The lead evaporated by the end of the middle stanza when the Wolves responded with a couple tallies of their own.
In the extra frame, with the score knotted at 2-2, Wolves diminutive forward Noah Gebicki blew around a Panthers defender and then neatly tucked the puck in on the short side past Tanner Ferrill.
The Gebicki marker gave the visitors a sudden-death overtime win. However, there was a lot to like about the game. On an extremely cold evening, a solid local crowd showed up and were treated to an outstanding effort by both clubs.
The effort did not stop on Sunday for an early afternoon game at the George Pearkes Arena in Saanich. The Panthers and Predators played a game that was knotted at 1-1 after 40 minutes of play were in the books.
Ethan Lingard had the Panthers lone goal when he scored from in tight midway through the 2nd period, while Silas Currie made the start between the pipes. But in the first shift to open the final stanza, the Predators notched the go-ahead marker and then scored late to give them the insurance marker.
Coach Tyler Stanton pulled Currie with just under a minute to go in the game, but a miscue in the Predators end allowed the home side to skate down the ice and whistle the disk into the gaping cage – the final nail in the Panthers coffin for the 4-1 win.
“We have some work to do to clean up several mistakes,” Panthers owner Pete Zubersky said. “We tossed a number of pizzas up the middle in our own end and were lucky that they didn’t end up in the back of our net.”
Zubersky added there were a number of times where players were tardy coming off the bench “on changes on the fly and those are mental errors.”
“I understand a physical error but when we repeat the same old mistakes time after time, it comes down to players not being ready to play.”
The Panthers have 10 games remaining before playoffs, he said.
“I loved our compete on Friday and then again on Sunday. With that kind of effort, wins are just around the corner. We might just be coming around at exactly the right time.”
The Panthers will be put to the test this Friday night (Jan. 19) at 7:30 p.m. when they welcome in the visiting Victoria Cougars.