(Victoria, BC) The Victoria Royals (33-19-3-1) took the ice Friday night for a huge game against rival Kelowna Rockets (33-17-3-1), the start of three games in four nights between the teams. The BC Division lead is at stake and these were three pivotal games heading into the push for the playoffs. Their last meeting was an 8-4 drubbing in Kelowna, with the Rockets dominating that contest. That game aside, the overall record for the Royals this season against Kelowna was 2-2-1, showing how close these two teams are.
Rockets team captain Phillips looked to continue his current 15-game point streak, collecting an impressive 29 points over that span.
The start of the game had a playoff feel, as both teams played each other closely. Victoria loaded up with skilled forwards on the power play with Noah Gregor and Tanner Kaspick on the point and Phillips, Soy and Hannoun up front. The decision by head coach Dan Price paid off as some criss-cross passing led to a Hannoun tap-in for a 1-0 lead at 16:36. Kaspick and Soy drew assists on the nice setup of the goal. The period closed out with both teams engaging in aggressive stick work, looking to set the tone for the remainder of the game. Period shots were 14-12 in favour of Victoria.
The rough play continued into the second, as Braydon Buziak looked to take out the hulking 6-foot-6 Bradyn Chizen and was called with a double-minor for the slew-foot. On the extended power play the Rockets had some great chances, from Kole Lind in particular, but could not capitalize.
The Royals were next up with the man advantage, as Carsen Twarynski was called for high-sticking. On the ensuing power play, Phillips was able to fight off the defender and tuck home his 40th goal of the season past Kelowna goalie Brodan Salmond at 9:28 to make it 2-0.
A couple of minutes later Kelowna struck back, as Outhouse was not able to corral a puck and Dillon Dube was out front to capitalize, making it 2-1. Victoria responded as at the side of the net, Igor Martynov was able to jam in a Kaspick hard pass to make it 3-1 at 13:20.
Video review was needed to check if a Kelowna bounce off a skate made it across the goal line, but the ruling was in favour of the hometown team. Twarynski was denied his second goal of the evening as Scott Walford swept the puck away, preventing a goal.
The big line for the Royals made it 4-1 as a quick passing play led to Phillips’ second goal of the evening at 17:19. With the goal, Victoria’s top line was already up to seven combined points for the game. The second period shots were in favour of the Rockets 20-11.
Tempers finally boiled over as Cal Foote and Noah Gregor squared off and went off for fighting at 9:12. The Royals scored a third power play goal of the game at 18:13 as Andrei Grishakov took a rebound out front for an easy tally. The 5-on-3 goal would be the last of the game, as it finished 6-1 for Victoria. Final shots in the game were tied 40-40.
A close game early developed into a one-sided affair in favour of the home team. Both clubs had lots of chances on the evening, but Victoria was able to capitalize on their opportunities going 3-for-8 with the man advantage. The Royals responded quickly after Kelowna scored in the second period and did not look back from there, scoring four straight. Kole Lind had a strong game for the Rockets and if not for some unlucky bounces, he would have likely impacted the game differently.
Game two between these two teams goes Saturday at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena with puck drop at 7:05pm, with both teams now tied atop the BC Division with 70 points.
