If you like goals, then the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena in Victoria was the place to be this weekend.
The Victoria Royals and Spokane Chiefs filled the score-sheet in a series that saw 21 goals over two games.
Friday’s game saw both teams fire up the offense, the Victoria Royals coming out on top with a 7-5 win.
Ten different Royals recorded points and six had multi point games. The action started early as Tarun Fizer opened the scoring just nine seconds into the game, tying the franchise record for quickest goal to open a game.
On Saturday the Royals hosted the Chiefs in a rematch on Canadian Forces Appreciation night. Prior to the game, the Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy proudly performed both national anthems while the Canadian Forces personnel preformed the ceremonial puck drop. Victoria wore commemorative jerseys with the CFB Esquimalt crest on the front, which were auctioned off in support of Boomer’s Legacy and The Royal Canadian Legion.
Once action started it was Spokane that opened the scoring. Riley Woods scored his 15th goal of the season as he carried the puck around the back-checking forward and beat Griffen Outhouse low. The Chiefs had another good chance midway through the first as Outhouse was forced to make a scrambling save and Victoria frustrations led to the game’s first penalty. Victoria’s high-pressure penalty-kill struck again, as Phillip Schultz broke up a pass his own blue line and went in alone on Dawson Weatherill. Schultz made no mistake, going stick-side for the short-handed goal at 11:33.
The Chiefs regained the lead with a power play goal from Luke Toporowski who scored his 11th of the season. Initially the puck looked to hit solid post, but after video review the officials ruled it a good goal.
Spokane made it 3-1 with a late first period goal as Filip Kral fired the puck towards the net and beat a screened Outhouse at 18:53.
For the second night in a row, a goal was scored in the opening nine seconds of the period. Spokane made it 4-1 before most of the Victoria crowd made it back to their seats as Eli Zummack scored early.
Kaid Oliver added a much-needed goal for the Royals at 13:22 after some hard work by Scott Walford deep in the Chiefs zone.
Not to be slowed, the Chiefs responded with a goal from Adam Beckman at 16:11, a shot that looked to be deflected off some traffic out front of Outhouse.
Victoria outshot Spokane 15-10, largely due to three power plays which they could not convert.
In the third period, while on it’s fifth straight power play, Victoria looked like it finally converted the chance. Schultz appeared to get his second of the night, but video review showed the puck rang off the post and the score remained 5-2. The Chiefs would add two empty net goals by Cordel Larson and Carter Chorney to close it out on a 7-2 score and split the weekend series against Victoria.
Chiefs defenceman Filip Kral was a deserved first star of the game with three points (1g, 2a). In all, seven different Spokane players found the back of the net Saturday. With the victory, Spokane bumped a three-game winless streak and will look to build on the momentum Tuesday night versus the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Victoria could not get its power play synced, as they went 0-for-3 in the second period which prevented them from gaining momentum. “We needed to execute better, more consistently including entry,” said Head Coach Dan Price on his club’s special teams. “It would have given us better odds to score and keep it close.” The Royals played better hockey in the second half of the game but could not recover from the deficit.
For the Royals, it is another week of practice before they face the Regina Pats on Nov.17th in Victoria. Price took ownership of his team’s slow start, “We had to know that Spokane would come out desperate, intense, aggressive. They are well coached and have a lot of pride. We didn’t match it, we weren’t ready for it. Anytime the team is flat and not prepared to play, that’s my responsibility. We will be prepared to play when Regina comes to play on Saturday.”
