The Peninsula Panthers finished off the Kerry Park Islanders in four straight games to advance to the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) finals.
Captain Ethan Lingard scored twice, including the third-period winner, to give the Peninsula Panthers a 5-3 win over the Kerry Park Islanders and a sweep of their best-of-seven South Division playoff final series in front of 291 fans at the Panorama Recreation Centre in Monday night VIJHL playoff action.
Lucas Ananias, Jacob Caron and Jacob Eddy had the other goals for Peninsula. Hunter Farrer was excellent again between the Peninsula pipes with 31 saves, and Carter Puska stopped 25 shots for the Islanders.
Thanks to 7-1 and 5-1 wins last Friday and Saturday nights respectively, as well as a 5-4 win last Tuesday in the series opener, the Panthers took a commanding 3-0 stranglehold lead over the Islanders in the best of seven South Division final series.
The dominance in the series so far has perhaps been a surprise to many (except the Panthers), as the Islanders were the VIJHL regular season champions, having overtaken the Panthers for that title in the early part of the new year.
The Islanders also have a potent scoring lineup, with the top three regular season scoring leaders and five of their players overall in the top 10 scorers of the league.
All of that has meant nothing to the Panthers, who with revenge on their minds for having let the overall title slip from their grasp, have found a way to shut the Islanders down with stellar defence, special teams work and most notably, goaltending.
Chief among that has been goaltender Farrer, a late-season addition to the team from the Oceanside Generals, who leads all playoff goalies with a 1.71 goals against average and .941 save percentage and who has been nothing short of spectacular, especially in Saturday night’s game in Kerry Park, where he earned first-star honours stopping 38 of 39 shots for the win.
The offence has also picked it up and has been able to capitalize on their chances when presented.
Lingard and forward Alex Sajan are the second and third leading VIJHL playoff scorers respectively. Lingard has three goals and nine assists, while Sajan has added eight goals and three assists, seven of those goals coming in the Panthers' first-round win over the Westshore Wolves.
Another late-season addition, Oskar Aitken-Salmons, is also proving his worth, with seven goals so far in the playoffs, while season-long stalwart Brendan Williams has added four goals and five assists.
“We came into this series with a specific game plan, and how we wanted to utilize our structure,” said Panthers Head Coach Tyler Stanton, recently named the VIJHL Coach of the Year. “To their credit, the boys have executed that nearly flawlessly and knowing what they [Kerry Park] are capable of, we will have to do it again to be able to advance.”
The Panthers now advance to face the winner of the Campbell River Storm and Port Alberni Bombers series where Campbell River holds a 3-1 series lead.
