NORTH SAANICH — The Peninsula Panthers were brought back to Earth this past weekend after being knocked off Friday night at the Panorama Recreation Centre and then again on Sunday afternoon in Campbell River by the VIJHL-leading Storm.
On Friday night, the Storm skated to a 6-2 win, but according to the Panthers, the Storm’s 9-2 final on Sunday was not at all indicative of the play.
On Friday evening, the home “Cats” did not show up for most of the evening and played perhaps their worst game in the last several weeks.
Scoring for the Panthers were defencemanShota Yamamoto with his first of the season and Brendan Martin. Goalie Bryce Schiebel had a tough evening, albeit a short one, as the Storm scored four times on only 13 shots before he was chased late in the first period in favour of Chris Akerman. Akerman mopped up and allowed the Storm’s final two goals.
On Sunday, the Club travelled to Campbell River for a late afternoon game and although they trailed 5-2 after 40 minutes, the teams could have quite easily gone into the second intermission tied. Penalty problems played a major part in the final stanza as the Storm racked up four meaningless markers.
Panthers’ Head Coach Brad Tippett was not at all pleased with the effort of his troops on Friday night, although he was somewhat more pleased with the effort in Campbell River.
“We came into the weekend on a high but we simply came out flat. I thought we had got over the hump in giving our opponents too much credit.
“They are a fast team but when you don’t skate, they are even faster,” Tippett said of the Storm. “There were stretches in both games where it was up and back and we played eye to eye. I thought the effort on Sunday was far better than Friday however we were victimized by a couple of bad bounces and I felt that the whistle didn’t quite go our way.”
The Panthers will travel to the Q Centre this evening (Nov. 15) where they will face the Westshore Wolves before returning home to host the Kerry Park Islanders on Friday night. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m.
