The Peninsula Panthers’ season is only four games old but the club is searching for some answers after a pair of weekend losses against the Oceanside Generals in a home-and-home mini-series. The Panthers were knocked off 4-0 at home on Friday night and were then edged out 4-2 one night later in Oceanside.
The contest on Friday night was somewhat marred with delays as the refereeing crew seemed to struggle to keep the flow of the game going. At one point there was a lengthy delay over a situation that might have been handled in just a few seconds. Pete Zubersky was clearly frustrated and had some interesting comments, yet made a point of not crossing the line. “The fellow doing the game was a young ref, I believe he was only 17 or 18 years old. I heard it was his first game and so undoubtedly there was a learning curve. The many delays seemed to take all momentum on the evening out of the game and out of the stands, but I know this is a one-off and hopefully things get back to normal Friday night. I was approached by a lot of our fans who were really unhappy about the way the game was handled, but every season has its ups and downs.”
The Club is still searching for their first win, which is a surprise as the roster on paper seems poised to win hockey games. Brad Tippett commented on his Club and the start to the season. “We came out of the exhibition season with two convincing wins and some guys fell into a mindset that we should be clearing our spring calendars for the championship parade. In the four league games we have had stretches where we looked like an elite team and stretches where looked far from it. I do believe our guys were overconfident and it has taken a ten-day four-game dose of humility to answer the wake up call. We had a number of 1 on 1 meetings that included video clips. The video doesn’t lie. We had a better effort Saturday and made better decisions. There is a lot of work ahead. We have dug ourselves a hole but there is a simple solution — keep it simple.”
The Panthers will be looking to take the next step on Thursday night in Esquimalt against the Victoria Cougars and will be back at the Panorama Recreation Centre on Friday night against those same Cougars. The game goes at 7:30 pm.
