The Peninsula Panthers are in a youth movement but that hasn鈥檛 slowed the talented team this Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League season.
The young Panthers are just five points out of first in the tight South Division and their young players haven鈥檛 gone unnoticed. Nine Panthers were named this week to the VIJHL Prospects Games slated for Jan. 7 at Campbell River鈥檚 Rod Brind鈥橝mour Arena.
鈥淲e obviously have a young squad and a lot of prospects,鈥� Panthers governor Pete Zubersky said in a statement. 鈥淚 would have liked to have seen a couple more of our guys be named, but we have to be happy with how things ended up.鈥�
A total of 42 players were named to the rosters for the annual North vs. South showdown.
Named from the Panthers were forwards Josh Lingard, Marshall Brown, Tanner Wort, Matt Lawrence and Riley Braun will join defencemen Shota Yamamoto, Skyler Diamond-Burchuk and Thomas Spink and goaltender Bryce Schiebel in representing the South. Panthers鈥� forward Carson Cox and goaltender Chris Akerman are among the alternates should any players not be available to compete.
The Panthers are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Campbell River Storm and now head into the Christmas break, while other teams across the league continue through this week, including a key South Division matchup tonight at The Q Centre between the Westshore Wolves and visiting Saanich Braves.
鈥淲e lost a tough one [Sunday] to the Storm, but it was anyone鈥檚 game right until the end. We still have work to do and have another two months before the playoffs and we will get better,鈥� added Zubersky, whose team is 14-17-0-1.
鈥淥ur kids are on their Christmas break. For now this is a nice gift for nine of our guys and I expect that we might just add one or two more players before all is said and done.鈥�
The Panthers and Campbell River each placed nine players into the prospects game.
鈥淥ur philosophy is to mold a tight knit group of players who want to get better individually and collectively every day,鈥� said Panthers coach Brad Tippett. 鈥淲e are very proud of the players named to the team as we are proud of all of our players.
鈥淗aving nine of 21 players [plus two alternates] named only reinforces that philosophy. Each of our guys is deserving of being there. They all play key roles on our team. It will be interesting to see how they stack up when playing against a whole team of players their same age.鈥�
Rounding out the South team are forwards Darwin Lakoduk, Matt Sparrow and Mateo Albinati, defenceman Alex Benger and goalie Nate Reinhart of the Victoria Cougars; Braydon Nelson, Brandon McClintick and Tory McClintick of the Kerry Park Islanders; Zach Guerra and Evan Abgrall of the Braves; and Keegan Durrance and Luke Sheldrake of the Wolves.
Named to the North squad are forwards Dawson Frank, Booker Chacalias, Pearce Messer, Kyle Kaufmann, Luc Wilson, Brett Kinley, Finn Withey, Jalen Price, Ryan Butler, Noah Kelly, Landon Dziadyk and Greyson Weme; defencemen Dylan Hartl, Logan Cursley, Aiden Sutherland, Timon Prexler, Erik Hanus and Mauro D'Alessandro; and goaltenders Derek Krall, Spencer Deakin and Jacob Sweet.
The coaching staff for the two teams will be assigned by Christmas and the prospects game will be broadcast live on HockeyTV as the free VIJHL game of the week.
