Story and Photos by Christian J. Stewart
November 24, 2025
North Saanich, BC – The Peninsula Panthers continue to cruise through the 2025-2026 VIJHL season on auto-pilot, notching two more wins last weekend, their 10th and 11th in a row and 20th overall.
They are the first team in the league this season to hit the 20 win mark (20-1-1-0) and the first to hit the 40 point mark, now with 41, three points ahead of second place Westshore.
Last Friday night at Panorama, they shut down the red-hot Victoria Cougars – who came into the game riding a six-game win streak – scoring twice in each of the second and third periods to take over a close game and come away with a 6-3 win.
On Saturday, a road trip to Comox to play the Glacier Kings paid off handsomely in a 9-2 win for the Panthers. Eight different players hit the back of the net in that one, most notably Captain Ethan Lingard who tallied a pair of goals.
For Lingard, after scoring just five times in his first 15 games, he has finally caught fire, scoring 10 goals in his last six games. He also has six assists in that span and now sits fifth in league scoring.
Also of note in the win against Comox, was a goal by forward Jacob Caron. Caron sits 11th in league scoring with 31 points, but astonishingly, on a team that leads the league with 139 goals scored, he did not register a goal until Saturday night.
Caron will have ample opportunity to add to his goal total on Friday and Saturday night this week, as the Panthers play a home-and-home series with the last place Kerry Park Islanders.
On Friday, the Panthers will host the Islanders in a 7:30 PM game start at Panorama Recreation Centre and then on Saturday, they will travel to Mill Bay for the return match in Kerry Park’s home rink.
Regular adult admission for Friday night’s game 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.
Photo Caption: Panthers Captain Ethan Lingard, here in action against Port Alberni on November 14th, has caught fire, scoring 10 goals in his last six games, helping lead the Panthers to 11 wins in a row and a record of 20-1-1-0 (Photo: Christian J. Stewart).
