Prince William Hockey Club

The Panthers went into the playoffs this weekend facing the 4th seed Navy team.  After a slow start in the first period, the boys went on to finish the game with a strong 9-2 victory, including 4 power play goals.  

The Panthers went home Saturday night knowing they would be facing a Reston team that they had not beaten during the regular season. Including tournament play, the Raiders and Panthers had tied an amazing 3 games and Reston beat the Panthers once during regular season play.  A quick look at the CBHL website and you could see just how evenly matched these two teams were by looking at record, goals for and and goals against.

Sunday afternoon lived up to all the hype.  Prior to the game Coach had given his team a specific plan to execute.  Not only did the Panthers play together and stick to the team game plan, but they outshot Reston 2 to 1 putting an amazing 43 shots on goal for the game.  Only one penalty was called the entire game and Prince William capitalized with a power play goal giving them a 100% Power Play percentage for the entire playoff weekend going 5 for 5 on the man advantage.  The Reston team and goaltender played a tremendous hockey game keeping it a one goal hockey game for the majority of the time.  With about a minute left and the Panthers leading 5-4, Reston called timeout and pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker.  With a defensive end draw, the Panthers gained control of the puck and scored an empty net goal to seal the victory!  All the credit goes to the boys for sticking to the gameplan and putting TEAM before SELF!

The discipline, determination, and mindset this team played with this season, but most of all this weekend, speaks to the type of players that made up the Prince William Bantam UA's.  A huge congratulations to the players and family members of this team.   It has been one of the most memorable seasons to date!

 The Panthers had been planning since summer time to attend the 42nd Annual Wayne Gretzky International Hockey Tournament, and the build-up was worth the wait.  According to the tournament staff, the Panthers were the "southern-most" team to ever come to their tournament and they were very excited to have us.

The Panthers played in a highly skilled 12 team Bantam division that was split into "two subdivisions".   The boys faced a very talented Oakville Rangers (who eventually won the tournament with size and speed), Hamilton Phantoms, and the Brantford Saints.  The team finished with a 2 win and 3 loss record, losing to the Oakville Rangers in the Quarterfinals.  The team had a blast with 5 great hockey games in all.  The team later traveled up to Barrie, Ontario to face the Barrie Colts, a team the Panthers first met during the 2009 season at a Can AM tournament in Montreal.  Both teams have stayed in contact since then and were able to set up a friendly game this year.

But the fun wasn't just on the ice.  The Panthers took a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame and participated in some interactive games as well as getting to pose with Lord Stanley's Cup.  This was all preceeded by a lunch at Wayne Gretzky's Restaurant in downtown Toronto which was most definitely a hit.  The boys also got a ride up in the CN Tower and saw a junior game between the Mississauga St. John's Majors and Niagra.

The team spent New Year's Eve together watching the U.S. vs. Canada Junior Game at Moose Winooski's Restaurant to finish off an exciting 6 day trip.