September 15, 2025
North Saanich, BC – The Peninsula Panthers are off to a great start to the 2025-2026 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) season, adding a pair of wins this weekend – 9-1 over Kerry Park on Friday and 9-3 over Saanich on Sunday – to advance their early season record to a perfect 4-0.
The quick start is nothing less than expected from the 2024-2025 VIJHL Champions, as they are returning 18 players from last season. They have also added a talented crop of rookies and early indications show that this is going to be one tough team to beat.
Last Friday night at Panorama Recreation Centre, the Panthers peppered 62 shots on goal in the 9-1 win over Kerry Park. Add to that a 51-shot performance against Westshore last week and in their first four games, Peninsula has totalled 198 shots on goal, an average of over 49 shots per game.
It is the same on the goal scoring front, as the Panthers have scored 31 goals in total in their four games, an average of 7.75 per game, leading the league by a long shot in that category. Headlining the goal-scorers for the Panthers have been Carson Harris with seven, including a hat-trick Friday and a goal Sunday, and Oskar Aitken’s-Salmon, with six, including a pair against Saanich on Sunday.
The defence has been no less impressive, allowing just a total of 68 shots on net, an average of 17 per game, and just 9 goals against, with their goal differential of +22 leading the league by a whopping 16.
“We are blessed to have such a core group of returning players,” said Panthers GM and Director of Hockey Operations Tyler Stanton. “They know what it takes to win and they are showing early that they want to do that again.”
“Our rookies are also learning by that example and have also impressed so far this season, which only bodes well for our team depth,” added Stanton. “There is still a long way to go in the year and we will need to have that depth down the road to continue our early success.”
The Panthers are next in action at home on Friday as they host the undefeated (3-0) Lake Cowichan Kraken at Panorama Recreation Centre.
Game time is 7:30 pm and regular Adult Admission is $12, $9 for youth (ages 13-18), and $2 for kids 12 and under. Also, for every kid’s ticket sold, the Murphy Family Foundation will donate $1.00US to the Peninsula Minor Hockey Association.
With sevengoals todate, including a hat-trick in Friday’s win against Kerry Park, Carson Harris (#27) (left) has sparked the Panthers to a perfect 4-0 start to the 2025-2026 VIJHL season (Photo: Christian J. Stewart).
