Lakeland Bantam Panthers 34-0-0 after shellacking SSAC Tommy Gun’s

Lakeland Panthers defenceman Zach Lapointe and forward Bryce Harrison try to clog up passing lanes during Saturday’s game against SSAC Tommy Gun’s from Edmonton.

The undefeated season continues.

The Lakeland Panthers Bantam AA hockey team improved their record to a ridiculous 34-0-0 in all games this year with a blowout 17-1 victory on Saturday.

Captain Ben Skarsen had seven points to move his season totals to 110 points.

He has a commanding lead ahead of teammate Will Porter (84 points) for second in the league in scoring and sits four points back of the league record for single-season scoring.

“It’s been going pretty good,” said Skarsen about the season.

“We’re undefeated. And we’re just hoping to keep on rolling undefeated to our final tournament and Provincials and going through that. It’s exciting and kind of awesome.”

Reaching historic heights

The Panthers might be only the undefeated Bantam AA hockey team in North America.

This tweet got a lot of attention in the Lakeland from late January and all the Panthers have done since is continue to win.

At 31-0-0 all games, tourney and league, the Bantam Lakeland Panthers AA team looks to be the only unbeaten team in North America at Bantam AA level and up if @MYHockeyRanking has all their games recorded. https://t.co/8kj5t1d8Ub

— Joe Habakkuk ???? ???? (@2020CDNHockey) January 29, 2020

It could be thanks to the team’s scoring depth with Skarsen and Porter combining for 104 goals on their own and contributions from Aidan McGilvery (16 goals, 40 assists) who is 4th in league scoring or Konner Poitras (34 goals, 18 assists) 9th in scoring.

Or it could be the team’s stifling defence.

Jed Houle and Josh Martin have split the crease this season and are 1st and 2nd in the league in Goals Against Average at 1.40 and 1.57, respectively.

“Really, it boils down to you know the depth,” said Panther coach Darcy Skarsen.

“There’s three full lines of forwards that can just go out and score at any given moment. The defense is stepping up. We got two goalies that are solid. They’re one-two in the league right now. I mean, I can put anyone out any given time and expect the best.”

Only three games remain in Edmonton Rural Bantam AA league regular season play, including a showdown on Friday, February 21 at home against the Wainwright Polar Kings.