Simply put, the Peninsula Panthers are a very good hockey team and, like all good teams, they keep finding ways to win.
Last Friday night at Panorama Recreation Centre, the Panthers ran their Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) record to a league best 21-1-2-0 and their win streak to 12, with a 6-3 win over the Kerry Park Islanders, who came into the game as one of the hottest teams in the VIJHL, having won 12 of 14 games up to that point.
That did not phase the Panthers, however, as they peppered an astonishing 63 shots at the Kerry Park net and just as important, kept the VIJHL and Islander's top two leading scorers, Carson Brown and Jacob Morrison, off the scoresheet.
The Panthers also played last Wednesday night at The Q Centre against the Westshore Wolves, who have been the only team to beat the Panthers in regulation time this year. The Wolves were very close to doing that for a second time, holding a 3-2 lead late in the game, but Lucas Ananias jammed home a puck with 25 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime, and then Jacob Caron scored in overtime to give the Panthers an exciting 4-3 win to keep the streak alive.
On Friday against Kerry Park, it was the Panthers' leading scorer and captain Ethan Lingard who got the offence in high gear. After spotting the Islanders a 1-0 lead, Lingard would score late in the first period, and just after the Panthers killed off a two-man power play early in the second, would score again to give the home squad the 2-1 lead.
The Panthers would go on to dominate the next few minutes of the game, with Caron, scoring in his fifth straight game, and Ananias, with his fourth goal in the last five games, notching markers within the next five minutes to build a 4-1 lead.
The Islanders would score before the period was out and then add another early in the third to pull within a goal at 4-3, but Carson Harris, with his 13th of the season and ninth in the last seven games, would restore the important two-goal lead less than a minute later.
Newcomer Brayden Hickling, acquired in a trade with Campbell River, would then add his first goal as a Panther to give Peninsula even more breathing room, and goaltender Merik Grinaker, who stopped 25 of 28 shots overall, would shut the door the rest of the way to secure the win.
The Panthers will face another tough challenge to their win streak this coming weekend when they kick off December with three games in a row for the only time this season. On Friday, they will be back at Panorama to host the Port Alberni Bombers who sit second in the North. They then travel Saturday night to Comox for a late tilt with the Glacier Kings and follow that with a quick turnaround for a 3 p.m. game in Mill Bay against the Kerry Park Islanders.
Game time Friday against Port Alberni is 7:30 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors (ages 60+), $9 for youth (ages 13-18) and $2 for kids 12 and under. Also, for every kid’s ticket sold in the regular season, the Murphy Family Foundation will donate $1US to the Peninsula Minor Hockey Association.
