Panthers chill out Glacier Kings 4-1

Although the Peninsula Panthers had just cracked into the win column last Friday evening knocking off the then undefeated Campbell River Storm, a 4-1 win against the visiting Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Friday night would simply not be....well, simple.  The Club held period leads of 1-0 and 3-0 but when the Kings came calling on the power play to close to 3-1 with only 48 ticks on the books in the final stanza, it was game on.

The Glacier Kings showed absolutely no sign of "bus legs" when the opening puck was dropped and they quickly moved into the Panthers zone and stayed there for several minutes of play in the early-going.  A penalty to crafty forward Trevor Owens put the Panthers down a man only 30 seconds into the game when Owens tossed one over the glass and was whistled on the delay of game.  The Glacier Kings moved the puck around nicely but a strong penalty kill lead by the fiesty Koby Hale kept the visitors at bay.  And it would be Owens who would hit the scoresheet once again and this time in a positive fashion when at the 12:03 mark he put a shot past Glacier Kings goalie Riley Mathieson.  Will Harvey made the start between the pipes for the Panthers and looked solid blocking several nice scoring opportunities giving his Club a 1-0 lead after the 1st stanza.

The game took a turn in the 2nd frame for the Panthers when after killing off a couple Glacier Kings powerplays, they received a 4-minute advantage of their own.  The visitors Grant Iles was sent to the sin bin for a double-minor for spearing and at the 4:24 mark Brett Carpendale gathered in a feed from Mitchell Newman and Kai Turner and wired a seeing-eye shot that cleanly beat Mathieson.  And only 1:15 later and still on the powerplay Austin Singhera received a pass from Turner at the point.  He blasted a drive towards the Glacier Kings net and Newman was standing right near the blue paint tipped it to give the Panthers a commanding 3-0 lead.  The score stayed this way through the middle period although both netminders did their part to keep it right there.

The Glacier Kings started the 3rd frame on the powerplay as Josh Poland had been banished to the box with only 8 seconds left in the 2nd period.  And they did not take long to get on the board when super-slick Liam Shaw found himself alone in the slot in front of Harvey and he made no mistake in blasting it by the 17-year-old goaltender.  It stayed that way until Mathieson was yanked in the final minute of play.  Newman gathered in the puck in the neutral zone and fed a rink-wide pass to newly appointed Captain Reece Costain who was barreling down the right side.  Costain picked up the biscuit in stride, crossed the blueline and wasted no time in nailing down the contest with the insurance marker into the gaping cage.  The final 19 seconds ticked off and a happy crew of Panthers headed to the room with two points under their collective belts.  The Club will be heading up Island to Comox on Saturday evening when they take on the Glacier Kings in the back end of the home-and-home weekend series.

Will Harvey picked up the 1st star in the contest blocking 35 of 36 shots enroute while Matheison was good on 20 of 23 attempts.  Hale and Owens were the 2nd and 3rd stars respectively however, Newman or Braedan Pearce could have just as easily been named.

"It was a nice win for the kids, " said a pleased Pete Zubersky.  "I thought that we worked our tails off as a group and we need to do that every single night if we want to compete.  I love how our goals against have dropped and that's a combination of effort and better goaltending."

Zubersky was also quick to pick out the work of Coach Rob Mortin on the night.  "Rob puts in such a big effort in getting our kids ready each night, he takes ownership and hates to lose hockey games.  He really deserves a lion's share of the credit for the recent success and I know that the kids can see it and appreciate the time he puts in.  We have a big game Saturday evening and the Comox Club is a good one.  We will have to bring our A game."

The Panthers travel to Saanich to face the Braves on Wednesday evening and will be right back at the Panorama Recreation Centre against the same Braves Club next Friday night.