The Victoria Royals (14-5-1-0) paid tribute to past and present Canadian Armed Forces in their annual Military Appreciation Night as they face off against the Edmonton Oil Kings (5-11-2-0) at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The colour guard from CFB Esquimalt and the Naden band delivered a beautiful rendition of the national anthem, followed by a moment of silence for Remembrance Day. A Canadian Forces bomb dispersal robot then came out onto the ice and made its way to centre ice for a unique ceremonial puck drop.
After the robot made its way off the ice, it was time to get down to hockey action and many expected the Royals’ offence to explode against the Oil Kings. The Royals came in leading the WHL in goals scored (93) while Edmonton had allowed the most goals in the league (72), setting up a potential one-sided affair.
Edmonton got on the score sheet first at 9:47 though as Brett Kemp out-muscled defenseman Matthew Smith in front of the crease to shovel it in from the blue paint, Colton Kehler and Jayden Platz assisting. Victoria was getting out shot 12-4 as the Oil Kings were not allowing Victoria much puck control. The play went back and forth for the rest of the first, with the Royals able to close the gap on shots with the help of a couple power plays.
Early in the second at 1:28, Kobe Mohr scored on the power play to make it 2-0 for Edmonton, his fifth of the year. He put it past Griffen Outhouse who was down stacking the pads but couldn’t get the puck. At the midway point of the second period, Royals continued to trail in shots 21-14. A spark came for Victoria as forward Eric Florchuck scored on the power play at 12:31 after a cross- crease feed from Igor Martynov. Jared Legien had the other assist. Any momentum from the goal was killed however as thirty seconds later Victoria was caught with a penalty for too many men on the ice. Matthew Phillips was sprung for a short-handed breakaway but was out of gas at the end of a shift, easily caught by the Oil Kings defenders. Edmonton took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission, also leading in shots 26-16.
Victoria tied the game early at 1:33 of the third period as Ryan Peckford netted his 12th goal of the year, a nice redirect in front off a slap-pass from Scott Walford. Tyler Soy completed the Royals comeback at 10:41 with a power play goal, which proved to be the game winner. Victoria moved the puck around nicely, Soy finished a cross-ice pass from Phillips and the other assist to Walford. Outhouse made a couple of big saves with five minutes left to retain the Victoria lead. The Oil Kings pulled goalie Travis Child with less than two minutes remaining, but besides some scrambles in front they were unable to get any real chances on the Victoria net. The Royals held on for the victory with a final score of 3-2.
Victoria defenseman Scott Walford was named first star, recording a pair of assists as well as a thunderous hit on Oil King forward Ty Gerla. Matthew Phillips was the second star and Brett Kemp was selected third star.
Head Coach Dan Price described Victoria’s slow start “We were just too far away from the puck. A fore-checking team like Edmonton puts pressure on you and creates turnovers. That’s how we got out of sync, and that continued through the whole second period. Fortunately in the third the guys took ownership, righted the ship and that period was much better for us.”
Victoria squeaked out a victory against a hard-playing Oil Kings team, relying again on the work of the power play and Outhouse’s key saves. Credit goes to the Victoria coaching staff and players for making adjustments, as the third period was a much different game in favour of the Royals. Edmonton played well in their first game of their current five game trip out west, often out-skating the Royals, playing them physical and shutting down Victoria’s high caliber offence.
Victoria has a quick turnaround and ferry ride as it travels to play the Vancouver Giants at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday, No.11th.
