Beyond The Buck: "An Unforgettable Season"

In 2021/22 the Pickering Panthers in the Ontario Junior Hockey League were all in. This is the first of many episodes of Beyond The Buck where we look back at an unforgettable Panthers team. 

The 2021/22 OJHL season was unique. The season prior was completely lost during the Pandemic and this one was nearly cancelled as well. In the beginning of January the season was put on pause and players were worried that they would lose another year of hockey after seeing what happened last season. 

In this episode you will hear the voices of Cael Cavallin, Matthew Altomare and Ryan Johnstone who were all members of the 2021/22 Pickering Panthers. 

Join host Thomas West as he tells the story of the 2021/22 Panthers team.

Transcript

SPEAKER_11 0:08

Well listen, I don't know if a lot of people thought we'd be here today on February 4th, 2022, the Victory Computers in Hollywood released the first game after the COVID shutdown about a month ago, and we're back with the Victory Features complex the OJHLC. We'll continue.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Here comes Hunter Shoot Scores! Oh a call from Dustin Hutton! Dances his way in, and the Panthers leave for the two!

Thomas West 0:42

Well, that was the Pickering Panthers coming away with a 4-2 victory over the Collingwood Blues back in February 2022, when they came back after a month off when they got a scared that the season might be canceled due to COVID-19, and it was a valid concern because there was no season at all in the OJHL the year prior, which affected a lot of junior hockey players trying to get to the next level in your their junior career. And for the Pickering Panthers at this point in time, they had no idea what was about to happen next and how special that 2021-22 season was gonna be for them. I'm Thomas West, the commentator for the Pickering Panthers, and this is Beyond the Buck.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

His season as well as a number of his teammates' futures are in question.

Cael Cavallin 2:54

Yeah, it was really tough. Everybody stay ready. And it was kind of like an ongoing cycle where it would get better and then it would get better and it would get way worse. But then it also made it way worse when they eventually were like, Yeah, well, guess what? You can't be in a room with more than five people.

SPEAKER_07 3:19

Yeah, it was definitely tough. Um COVID just kind of screwed everything over in the hockey world and it put a lot of things on halt, and with the fact that you couldn't do anything, there's not a lot of training you can do other than on your own. Like you couldn't go to the rink, you couldn't skate, you couldn't do anything to pretty much develop your on-a-skills as a hockey player.

Thomas West 3:43

So it it almost felt like a setback to most kids, and to me it felt like a little bit of a setback too, but that was the voice of Kale Kavan and Ryan Johnstone. Kale Kavan was a defenseman that was nearing the end of his junior hockey career, but really wanted to get those last few years of junior hockey in. And for Ryan Johnstone, he was completely at the other end of the spectrum. He was playing his first year of junior hockey, but wasn't even with the Pickering Panthers yet. He was still playing U18 hockey with the Ajax Pickering Raiders. So, when the OJHL went on pause on January 1st, there was a lot of uncertainty around OJHL players. Now, it's important to have some context on why this season in the Ontario Junior Hockey League would have been so devastating had it been shut down for the Pickering Panthers. One, the Pickering Panthers thought they could win a Buckland Cup. At what point in this season did you say we want to really go for it and go out and get all these guys?

SPEAKER_05 4:48

Gonna be honest, uh, you know what? We knew that uh, you know, coming out of the COVID uh season last year not playing. We just wanted to have a really fun, exciting year here in Pickering.

Thomas West 4:58

They were all in. Lots of big additions from the Ontario Hockey League and experienced players in the OJHL that got added to this Panther team. But on a second level, there were a lot of overagers. Now, in junior hockey, the oldest you can be is 20 years old. This season, that happened to be players born in 2001. At this time, the Pickering Panthers had eight players born in 2001, a huge portion of the roster. In fact, eight overagers is the most you can put on the ice in any game in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. So there were eight players at this time looking at this shutdown and saying, This could end my junior hockey career. Luckily, on February 4th, 2022, the OJHL got back underway. And the Pickering Panthers took the ice for the first time in over a month to take on the Collingwood Blues. Piper lost the puck. And here come the Panthers, a shot scored.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Ian Martin gets the goal. One-nothing Pickering Panthers.

Matthew Altomare 6:13

The one thing I'll never forget about that game, Marty, Ian Martin went down, scored a goal. That was first game, and I remember him running off the ice and throwing up because we were so not that we were out of shape, but like we haven't played in a game for a long time. And he comes run. I'm like, we're all happy we won, but I'm like, did you just throw up? And he's like, yeah, yeah, because tired and stuff like that.

Thomas West 6:38

And I'm like, all right, joined now by Matthew Altimar, uh, the Pickering kid. Uh Matthew, uh, how you doing? Very good, very good. Long time, long time since we've done one of these things. So it's been good to be back. Yeah, man. It's good to see you again. Uh I I know playing for the Pickering Panthers uh was something extra special for you, right? Like you were a guy born in Pickering, and you know, I know we've talked about this before, but you know, everything that happened with this team this year or in this 21-22 season must have been extra special for you just being a local kid.

Matthew Altomare 7:20

Oh yeah, it was it was a fun ride. Like, honestly, my best year of hockey. Top. Like, and I mean you can ask a lot of the guys on the team. Like, we get together um with some of the old guys too, like this summer, for instance, like me, Marty, Perry, we get together, have a few pops and stuff like that, and we'll talk about it. And it's like, you know what I mean? Just all the memories and stuff like that. It was a great time, and uh probably a lot of our best years of our best year of hockey. So it's good, good year.

Thomas West 7:51

Alright, joined now by Kale Kavlan from the Pickering Panthers. You know, just this season as a whole, you know, how crazy was this for for you in your junior career? And you know, this feel like it was kind of the the pinnacle of junior hockey for you.

Cael Cavallin 8:04

I mean, yeah, considering considering I wasn't in Pickering to begin the season. Um that season actually ended up being quite a whirlwind for me. I think I started in Aurora at the beginning of the year. Um then ended up in Stowville for like I think 20 games, and I I we won two games and out of 20. I was looking looking for something else, and I ended up getting picked up by Pickering, and then yeah, I guess the rest is history, like Did I ever get lucky or what?

Matthew Altomare 8:33

Yeah, you sure did. I texted up uh the Stoville manager at the time and uh went up, had a meeting with him. Um basically didn't see eye to eye or whatever, and um I ended up not pursuing there. I gave Rob a text and uh said, Hey man, like I can come back to Pickering. I know you guys have a good organization there still, and I know I want to be some that like it was gonna be a special group. I know a lot of guys that were owned by them at the time, right? Like Marty and stuff was still there. And um yeah, I just gave him a text and he's like, Let's do this. Uh Rico was there too, and they knew my personality and what I could bring to the team, and uh that uh kind of went went on from there.

Thomas West 9:21

Yeah, so I remember uh when I was talking to you four years ago, you said that you had skated four times over the summer coming into the Pickering Panthers. Were you fully bought in yet when that Panthers team started, or did it take a while to kind of realize, you know, I I still got this?

Matthew Altomare 9:40

Um I always I always had confidence in myself. Um but I went into that season and like I told you before, just like like I had a conversation with my my pops, and I'm like, because of COVID and my dad and I were always close um throughout my hockey, and I'm like, I'm gonna play again. And he's like, Yeah, do you know what? Just go into it, um have fun, make the best out of your last year. Because I thought it was after junior. I thought, no more hockey after that. Just you know, go in, play it out, do the best I can, and uh try and help uh try and help them win, right? Um that yeah, that was pretty much it. So it was safe to say you're glad you decided to came back to come back. Absolutely. That was that was crazy. Like it was yeah, it was it was awesome. It was awesome.

Thomas West 10:30

So no matter what, this was gonna be the last season of junior hockey for Matthew Altamar, playing on a special team, the his hometown team in Pickering, a team that he's uh played so long for in an organization that he he grew up playing in as well. So thank goodness the OJHL ended up coming back, because that would have really sucked if that was the way your junior career ended. Now, Kale Kavlin, who uh also happened to be uh Matthew Altamar's defense partner, and strangely enough, they both happened to come from Stowville either this the season prior at the beginning of the year or mid-season, like Kale Kavan's about to talk about right now. And it was especially weird this year for Kale because he had just got traded to the Pickering Panthers, and then all of a sudden, before he can get to know any of his new teammates, the season gets shut down for a month. So this happened again the next season. Luckily that the season didn't get taken away, but I'm just kind of wondering, you guys as a team and you personally, at the beginning of January, when you knew the shutdown was gonna happen, uh, you know, were you guys worried the whole season was gonna get get cancelled, or you know, what were you guys thinking when that happened?

Cael Cavallin 11:44

Yeah, that was um it was a weird season because I remember the first half there was no issues. We just had to do the the sign-ins every day. The pa the vaccine passports, and then it was actually really weird for me because that shutdown happened like a day and a half after I got traded to Pickering. So I got traded, played the night I got traded, we went off for Christmas break, and then there was the massive layoff. So it was weird for me. That was weird for me in the sense where I was kind of on a new team and I didn't really know anybody. Um and like so I we I played, didn't know anybody. Played against Snowfield actually that first game. Um and then didn't have hockey for like a month, and then everybody's like, oh yeah, well, we might be done. Remember having a Zoom meeting with Rob and everybody, and he's like, Oh, listen, the OJ is proposing two different paths for us. Like, there's two I think there's two different options where it was we could have done like an abreview to playoffs, and then still had the Buckland Cup and all that stuff, and then the national championship, or we could have just done like four rounds of seven for the OJ. Essentially, that was kind of the two options.

Thomas West 12:54

So let's flash you forward through this OJHL season for Pickering because to be honest, they were dominant, they looked like the best team in the Ontario Junior Hockey League, hands down, except for maybe the Toronto Junior Canadians. But we'll get to that later. First, the Panthers had a couple goals. One, they wanted to break the all-time franchise record for points in a single season by a Pickering Panther team. And they did that. Sends it off for Dustin Hutton, Hutton loses it, Partridge holds onto it. Now back to the point. Tomlison takes the top scores.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

And we have a new single season points record of 75 as history is made tonight at the Pickering Recreation Complex.

Thomas West 13:45

Secondly, they wanted to win the North Division. They also did that. And then their final goal was to have the most points out of any team in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. And at the very end of the season, the Toronto Junior Canadians and Pickering Panthers were tied, each with one game apiece. The junior Canadians in their last game of the season lost a 1-0 loss, which meant that the Pickering Panthers, playing a not very good Georgetown Raider team, had a chance to have the most points out of any team in the OJHL and have home ice advantage all the way through the playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Regular season finale for the Pickering Panthers and Zach Roy taking on Sebastian Lamora and the Georgetown Raiders. A Pickering win, and they'll clinch top spot in the league. Under a minute to go, the puck is up. Brendan Tomlson reaches for it, can't knock it down cleanly, and Owen Holmes bats the puck past Roy. It's a moment in time Pickering would like to have back. Roy most likely would have been able to make a clean catch and hold that one for a whistle. The Panthers need a goal in a hurry and another in overtime to take top spot, but Chris Ishmael will squash that dream with an open net goal to make it three to one, and that is the final.

Thomas West 15:01

Did that, you know, kind of have any impact on you guys? Or, you know, I know that was just that wasn't the way you guys wanted to finish that season.

Matthew Altomare 15:08

Yeah. Um, it was tough. It was tough after the game, too. I know we could kind of were chirping them across the hall at the end, and I think I had to like pull uh LJ. I think that was a game where LJ almost friggin' ran down the hall and kicked the crap out of half the team, too. But um yeah, it was tough, but I mean, we're a bunch of overage guys in the room too. We had a big uh older presence in the room, so we were able to bounce back right before the playoffs pretty quick. Um, and we focused our attention right on Stoville. We kind of threw that in the back burner. Yeah, we might have overlooked Georgetown going into that game, but for the most part, like short memory, like goldfish, throw it right out and just get right back to work.

Cael Cavallin 15:48

So Yeah, I think that well, yeah, I guess we were like, I guess, still confident in ourselves, but it was kind of a bummer. Like, I guess that we our our culmination was to break that point record. Right? And then it was kind of like, oh yeah, everybody's is nice. And then I guess probably let the let our foot off the gas a little bit and got a little bit, you know, complacent. I I I guess, but but I do remember that and I think that everybody was very happy that we lost to Georgetown that game for sure.

Thomas West 16:15

So not an ideal situation for the Pickering Panthers, but no harm, no foul. They're still going into the playoffs, the second best team in the OJHL, and they had home ice advantage against the Stowville Spirit for round one of this best of three series in the OJHL. You heard Matthew Waltimar and Kale Kavan talk earlier about the abbreviated playoffs that were gonna happen this year in the OJHL, which meant they had a full regular season, but a three-game series to start things out against the Stoville Spirit. Christos Rhodes in the first period tied things up in game one at the Pickering Recreation Complex, and then Matthew Waltimar had his moment. Cody Tyson actually shouldered the majority of the games this year for them, but here's a shuffle the point scores, and it's the Pickering Ontario native, Matthew Altamar, who gives them a goal by Matthew Waltimar to make it 2-1, Jacob Roach would end up scoring for the Stoville Spirit to tie things 2-2, but then Dustin Hutton and Lucas Rowe added tallies. That made it 4-2, and the Panthers won this game by two goals, but it could have been a lot more. Listen to the shots on goal. 61 for the Pickering Panthers, 33 for Stoville. Pickering was dominant. They had a lot of confidence coming out of this game, but in game two, Pickering Panthers hit a little bit of a bump in the road.

Cael Cavallin 17:44

I wasn't wasn't feeling very good. I think I was dash three. I was that was not a very good game for me. Um like I think they scored. I think they scored their first like I started the game, and I think they scored the first shaft. And I was like, oh my god, there's no way.

SPEAKER_09 18:03

So Vick Ring. Trying to control it, Cutler, fires it down in the curve corner, working the cycle game, be aware.

Thomas West 18:33

Yeah. So on this shift, Cale Kavlin was out there with his defense partner, Matthew Altamar, and it was a pretty bad start to the game for the Pickering Panthers. So just to give you some context here, I'm watching this clip as I talk to you right now. Lucas La Palme, one of the forwards for the Pickering Panthers, turned the puck over in his own zone. Like he passed, I think he was looking for Ben Pickle, but didn't find him at all, completely turned the puck over to the Stoville Spirit player. To make matters worse, there were two things. One, Cale Cavalin was going back to the bench because he thought the Pickering Panthers were gonna get the puck out, and then Matthew Ultimar, who was the defenseman, crashed into Ethan Lindsay, and it was a breakaway for the Spirit. Not good. And remember, this is a three-game series. So if Pickering were to lose this game, that means it's a do-or-die game at home for the second best team that was way better than the Stowville Spirit the regular season. This could not have been a worse start.

SPEAKER_09 19:39

Intercepted there again. Rhodes and Russell causing some problems. Looking out for the point. No dough. Puts it on that tip there. Front score! Oh biggering. Can't help him on that tip. Winston picks that one up in its beat. Winson over the blue line. Winston side's middle. Score! Wins it! What a shot! Sidesteptors, man. Martin snaps it in the goal, making it five to one. And this place he rocks. The kids are loving it.

Thomas West 20:13

Do you remember what happened in game two?

Matthew Altomare 20:16

I do. I do. Game two was game two was fun. Um for the third period, I think we were down, what was it, five-one? Yep. And uh Rob came came in and um honestly he didn't yell, he wasn't mad.

Cael Cavallin 20:30

He kind of just said like I think he what he said was like you guys better fucking show up tomorrow. Right, or we're going home, like it doesn't matter everything that we did.

Matthew Altomare 20:39

But like deep down, he's like, What the hell are these guys that like we had them, like we were a better team than Stovville, and they know they knew it too. Like, and um they were just kind of like shocked that they were probably up, you know what I mean? In my opinion, if I was Stoville, I would be like, Holy crap, we have pickering on the ropes here.

Cael Cavallin 20:55

And then I got I think that I think Josh Simpson went down and scored like the first shift. Went down and just like ripped. He hadn't scored in like forever.

SPEAKER_09 21:04

All the way down in. Just gets no call. Simpson down the wing. Score! Simpson, quick snapper, beats bomber, glove side. Now it's five to two, 17-27. Lots of hockey left. Lots of up and out of the zone. Ultimate lucky. Four minutes and fifty-eight seconds. It is a five-five lack of game. All the way around. Shoot, turn, back. Vickering Panthers defeat Stovel Spirit in overtime. Stovville Spirit got a 5-1 lead. Let it slip away. Vickering Panthers finish it off, winning this game six to five in overtime.

Thomas West 22:33

Jason Rayle, the commentator for the Stoville Spirit on the call there, did a fantastic job capturing the emotion of that game two, where the Panthers end up coming away with the overtime win on the Dustin Hutton goal to sweep the series two to nothing. So Coach Rob Pearson for the Pickering Panthers was a guy who commanded a lot of respect in that Panther locker room. And I thought it was interesting to hear, you know, after the fact, Altamar and Kavillan break down Rob Pearson and you know his kind of calm but still motivational reaction after the Panthers were down 5-1. Well, apparently post-game it was a little bit more lighthearted. So Matthew Altamar is gonna tee this one up, and the new voice you're gonna hear is Rob Pearson, and this was from a conversation that I had during this playoff run for the Pickering Panthers on a podcast that I was doing at the time called Behind the Paw.

Matthew Altomare 23:28

At the end of the game, Rob came in and he had some uh funny choice words for us after we came back.

SPEAKER_05 23:34

Uh a little bit of um uh maybe a swear word or two in there, but uh well I can't really go into what I was saying, but uh, you know, at the end of the day, I look at it as, you know, it's a good learning point for the team. Uh you know, every team, it doesn't matter what team you're playing, you got 16 in the playoffs, they're all good quality hockey teams, and Stovill proved it. They came out in game one, they worked really hard. Uh, they pushed us to a 4-2 victory, if I'm correct, um, with a late goal by uh one of our players, and uh they just pushed, right? So they came into the second game and uh they were hungrier than us at the end of the day. They were ready to play, we weren't. Um, and it took a couple periods for us to get warmed back up. And uh, you know, you talk. That's a great building uh team building event there that uh to be able to bounce back and come back from uh you know a 5-1 deficit to uh to be able to win that in overtime. I think it's truly helped us, and I think it's truly carried on to the next series in the in the following series, and uh that's what it's playoffs are about, right? Ups and downs, and uh we were down for a bit there, and uh we had to find a way to gel back together, and uh the boys did it. And I'm I'm pretty proud of the boys for doing that. Uh, you know, we didn't think it was gonna happen, to be honest, and uh they were able to pull it out, so that's awesome.

Matthew Altomare 24:51

He we had a good laugh about that after, and uh it was a good it was a good time in the room. It was a great adversity comeback, and it really set the tone for the rest of the ride uh for that playoff run.

Thomas West 25:20

And if you enjoyed listening on whatever platform you're listening right now, stay tuned because there is more coming. Like we are just scratching the surface of what was an unbelievable story that this Pickering Panther team went through. So now that the Pickering Panthers have kind of set the tone for their playoff run, getting that comeback victory against the Stoville Spirit. Next up they've got the Collingwood Blues, a team that was quite a lot tougher than this Stoville Spirit team. And you know, I remember talking to Scottie Nicholson before the playoffs started. He was the assistant general manager of the Panthers at the time, and he said, you know what, Stoville, they're not a team that scares me. I remember very clearly him saying that, but he said, the Collingwood Blues, they scare me. And I remember we looked at each other and said, Yeah, this could be where our our playoff run ends. So so the next challenge for the Panthers, they gotta get through a tough Collingwood Blues team. We'll have that on episode two of Beyond the Buck.