FIXTURE LIST WITH LINKS TO MEMORABLE GAME SHEETS

This season proved to be a disappointment following the relative success of it's forerunner. The season started with an import line-up of Terry Kurtenbach, Dave Ducharme & Danny Bissonnette, the latter two being newcomers to GB. Bissonette suffered early injury and failed to impress Alex Dampier sufficiently on his return. His replacement was a college player, Pete Chiarelli, who was also on his way after a handful of games. His replacement was Craig Melancon, a player generally disliked by Panthers fans as he previously played for arch rivals Streatham Redskins. The speedy, high scoring, firey centre, soon won over most of the fans after some electric displays. As the new year dawned Alex, still unhappy with the teams make-up, released Dave Ducharme and brought in ex Fife Flyer winger Mike Jeffrey. Mike proved to be a now you see him, now you don't player, but most would have suffered in comparison to the displays of Fred Perlini & Jimmy Keyes from the previous year. But perhaps the retirement of Robin Andrew had as much if not more effect on the team's success rate this season as the defence suffered from a relatively disasterous season.

After Panthers thrilling 10-9 home victory against Durham, the fact that no-one seemed particularly surprised when they were subsequently beaten at bottom of the table Peterborough the following night, perhaps sums up Panthers season. However despite his sides inconsistency, coach Alex Dampier is nonetheless happy with Panthers current form which has seen them clinch a play off place. Alex confessed that clinching a place in the top six had come as a great relief after Panthers poor start to the season. "The way things were going at the beginning of the year, I was more worried about finishing bottom than anything else. To get a play off spot is a real bonus. When you make a complete transition from basically an older squad to a very young team, you don't really expect to do all that well, but the kids have come up with the goods. We also owe a lot to a few of the older guys who've stuck with us instead of bailing out when the going got tough." (Ice Hockey News Review 19/3.)