Two heated rivals again face each other in the first round of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League Best-of-7 playoffs.
There is no love lost between the Victoria Cougars and Peninsula Panthers and that reality should produce a hard-fought and heated playoffs matchup starting this week.
“We are really excited to get this thing going,” Panthers owner Pete Zubersky said. “We have won our last four games and are playing some of our best hockey of the year at this point and know what to expect with the Victoria Cougars. We played them five times in the past six weeks and so there are really no secrets between the two clubs.”
The schedule is set with the opening game at Archie Browning Arena Feb. 29 and Game 2 at Panorama Recreation Centre on Friday.
“This is going to be a dog-fight starting from the drop of the puck in their barn on Thursday night and I expect that we will have some real support when we come back home on Friday. We love playing at home but we are going to have to win at least one or more games on the road,” Zubersky said. “This is going to be a real test but we have a group that believes in themselves and are ready to compete hard. We are 100 per cent healthy and ready to go and have guys that have won a championship in our locker room. It’s go time.”
The Panthers closed out the regular season on Friday night with a 3-0 win over the visiting Nanaimo Buccaneers. With their playoff positioning locked in, the club chose to sit out 12 of regular lineup players in order to ensure a rested and healthy lineup going into the post-season. Ahron Calalay, Julien Phillips and Malcolm Fletcher notched goals for the Cats while Silas Currie and call-up goaltender Everett Wilke shared time between the pipes to record the shutout.
The puck drops at Panorama Recreation Centre on Friday (March 1) at 7:30 p.m. for Game 2; in Esquimalt on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. for Game 3 and Monday (March 4) for Game 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Games 5, 6 and 7 – if necessary are set for March 7 (Esquimalt 7 p.m.), March 8 (North Saanich 7:30 p.m.) and March 10 (Esquimalt 1:30 p.m.)