In front of a sold out home crowd, Phillip Schultz made no mistake.
In the seventh round of a shootout, Schultz beat Vancouver goaltender Trent Miner to seal the victory. A big goal in front of a big crowd naturally lead to big celebration by the Danish forward. “I like celebrations because I love the game. I’m having so much fun every time I step on the ice and I want to show that, hopefully give something to the fans as well.”
However, Schultz during post-game was quick to give credit to his teammates for the victory, in particular goaltender Griffen Outhouse. Although Outhouse had four goals against, that stat line was not a reflection of night the Victoria netminder played for his club.
“You can look at the scoreboard and say he [Outhouse] let in four goals, but throw that away,” said Schultz. “He was phenomenal. If hadn’t been that fantastic and made the saves that he did, we would have never had the chance to go to the OT.”
Outhouse was the game’s first star, as he provided game-saving stops including the WHL highlight of the night, an amazing diving second save in overtime.
? WHL Highlight of the Night ?
February 23, 2019@outhouse40 of the @victoriaroyals#WHLHoN pic.twitter.com/81cIp2uql0— The WHL (@TheWHL) February 24, 2019
There was a silver lining for the Giants, as even with the single point, they were able to capture their sixth B.C. Division title. Playing under-manned, Vancouver were always in the game, led by the game’s second star Byram Bowen’s three assists. The Giants veteran players of Jadon Joseph, Davis Koch and Jared Dmytriw also were key in carrying their team.
The game Saturday night had a playoff feel, as expected from two rivals playing three games in three nights. For game two of the mini-series the action shifted to the island, with the Royals hosting their rivals on their annual Pink in the Rink night in support of the BC Cancer Foundation. The night before, the Giants stymied the Royals as goaltender David Tendeck recorded a shutout in the 4-0 win.
The first period saw each club measure each other up with little room given each way. The lone goal of the frame saw Milos Roman score a one-timer on the power play at 8:48. Top-rated prospect Byram was allowed to carry into the zone and fed the puck out front to Roman.
The Royals came out with some pace to start the second period and were rewarded on the scoreboard.
At 2:56 in the period, Outhouse made a heads-up play to fire a stretch pass while the Vancouver was on a change, which allowed Carson Miller to break into the Giants zone. From there, Miller feed Brandon Culter in the slot who made no mistake to beat Miner.
Shortly after, Kody McDonald showed nice hand-eye coordination to tip a shot up and over Miner to make it 2-1 at 3:41. On the play, Royals defenceman Scott Walford collected his 100th career assist.
Early in the third period, Victoria added to their lead with a short-handed goal by Dino Kambeitz at 3:22. The Royals hoped to hold the lead, but with a powerful team lie the Giants that would be a difficult task as the period went on.
Right on cue, Vancouver stormed back led by their veteran players. Goals by Joseph and Koch at 10:49 and 15.51 respectively, tied the game. Logan Doust answered back and the goal at 17:21 of the third looked like a possible game winner.
However Giants captain and former Royal forward Dmytriw was clutch as he scored with just 43 seconds remaining. With the goal, Vancouver tied the contest for a second time, setting up the overtime and shootout.
With the victory, the Royals now move to 5-0-0-0 against the Giants in their annual Pink in the Rink night. “The whole team rises to the occasion,” said Head Coach Dan Price post-game. “In a game like tonight you’re playing for something bigger than yourself. You’re playing for people that are important to you, people who’ve you know who have been touched by cancer and your home fans who this game is so important to as well.”
The third and final game of three in three nights goes Sunday afternoon at the Save On Foods Memorial Centre with puck drop at 3:05pm. In describing what he expects for the third game, Price predicted “I think you’re going to see as much pace and maybe even more. We are really going to try to empty the tank, knowing that we have a few days off after. Both teams are really going to want this win.”
Game Notes
- Scott Walford’s assist on McDonald’s goal gave him 100 for his WHL career so far. Walford becomes the third defenceman in franchise history to hit the assist milestone.
- Ralph Jarratt returned to action after missing the last 10 games. Jarratt showed no signs of any rust, showing some offensive rushes and even saved a potential goal in the game. “Ralph’s been working really hard on his conditioning to get back into a game shape,” said Price. “He stepped right in and didn’t miss a beat.”
- The Giants have only lost six games total this season within the B.C Division and four of those loses have now come via the Royals.
