Panthers celebrate 6-3 Win Over Cougars

Panthers Celebrate 6-3 Win Over Cougars

Panthers dropped their feline cross-town rivals Victoria Cougars 6-3 in front of another large crowd last night at the Panorama Recreation Centre.

Much like the last meeting earlier this month, this one was pretty much over after the first period, but this time it was the Panthers who held a 3-0 lead heading into the second period.

James Kellington got things going for the Panthers as Kory Coward and Nick Chalecki sent Kellington in alone on Cougars starting goaltender Alex Kwong. Kellington made a few nice moves and buried it high under the crossbar at 10:02. Panthers got two late power play markers, as Greg Simpson redirected a point shot by Jake Bryan. Blake Huppert the game's second star also added an assist on the play at 4:44. The game's first star, Chalecki, made it 3-0 with 1:02 left in the first as he put in a rebound off another of Bryan's point shot. Panthers out shot the Cougars 15-5 after one period of play.

In the second the Panthers again came out strong, and Simpson scored his second of the game just two and a half minutes in. Kyle wells and Huppert had assists on the play. Just over two minutes later, Dan Bell scored to make it 5-0 and that was the end of the night for Cougars starting goaltender Kwong. Huppert added his third assist on the night. Cougars Erik Jackman got them on the score clock at 11:35 on a power play goal set up by Steve Axford and Mike Iorio to end the second period 5-1. Panthers led shots on goal in the second period 12- 8 .

In the third period the two teams seemed to go through the motions till the last four minutes of the period. Stu Hepburn scored to make it 6-1 as he but the puck behind Lazlo Tamasik who had replaced Kwong back in the second period. Chris DeMederois added the assist. Cougars capitalized on two late five on three power plays, as Steve Axford beat Scott Ismond with a rebound on a point shot by Colin Frederickson. TJ Liebl also had a helper on the play. Jesse Grieve finished the scoring with 25 seconds left on the clock, as he found himself in the right spot to shoot the puck into the open cage on a point shot that came off the end boards right to him at the side of the net. Fredrickson picked up his second assist, and Jake Koistinen drew the other. Cougars out-shot the Panthers in the third 12-8 for a game total of 25; Panthers had 35 shots on the night.

The game's third star Panthers David Courtney, although he was held off the score sheet, logged a tremendous amount of ice time setting up and breaking up plays. Courtney also laid out many big hits on the night. In the play-by-play, announcer Paul Haysom said, "He was solid out there tonight; he plays so strong on his feet it's hard to not like the way this guy plays game in and game out for you."

Panthers move one point back of the Victoria Cougars for top spot in the VIJHL, and have two games in hand. The Panthers travel to Campbell River Friday night to play the Storm before traveling home for a rare Saturday night game at Panorama against the Saanich Braves.

Game time to be announced.

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