Junior B season off to a rocky start for Pelham Panthers

While it may be three games into a 50-game season, Pelham Panthers coach and assistant general manager Zac Rinaldo is not pushing any panic buttons after the club opened the 2024-25 Greater Ontario Hockey League campaign with a trio of losses.

“We have a very young team right now,” Rinaldo said as the team is prepping for a pair of home dates this weekend against the Welland Canadians on Friday night and the Port Colborne Sailors on Sunday afternoon.

The Panthers have been having trouble finding the net in the early going and have been outscored 20-6 over that span, including shutout losses of 8-0 loss to the Cambridge RedHawks last Saturday followed by a 5-0 setback versus the Caledonia Corvairs in Pelham’s home opener last Sunday. Those losses came after the Panthers dropped their season opener on Sept. 12, 7-6 to the expansion Brantford Titans in the Telephone City.

Rinaldo said that he saw “some bad habits” from some players who are getting their first taste of junior. Part of his job will be to help change that, he added.

“We are a development organization,” Rinaldo said. “My focus will be making these players better.”

The rocky start, he said, actually helps him and assistants Mark Turner, Tanner McEachern, and Tyler LeClair assess what the club needs.

We’re able to see what needs to be addressed,” Rinaldo said.

But what is most pressing for the club, is its work in the defensive zone, the Panthers’ second-year bench boss said.

“We have some players, they were really good players in minor hockey,” Rinaldo said. “But now they don’t get the space and the time they did there here. It’s a big adjustment.”

He also said that the Panthers’ penalty kill (57.1 per cent and ranked last in the league) and powerplay (scoring on 7.7 per cent of its chances, 13th) could use some work.

Game time Friday night at the Meridian Community Centre Accipiter Arena is 7:15 p.m. Sunday’s matinee versus the Sailors starts at 2:45 p.m.

The GOHL went through a realignment for the current season, reducing the number of conferences from three to two. The Panthers, along with the six other teams in the former Golden Horseshoe Conference are now part of a revamped Eastern Conference, which also includes the RedHawks, Ayr Centennials, and Caledon Bombers from the former Midwest Conference, and the Titans.

The Panthers are currently in last place in the 13-team conference.