The Victoria Royals felt due for some bounces.
And those bounces came through big time a 7-4 victory over the Portland Winterhawks Tuesday night.
The game was highlighted by Royals forward Tarun Fizer scoring his first WHL hat-trick, a breakout game for a forward who himself was arguably due for a big game. “It was a pretty special experience for me,” said Fizer postgame. “I have to give credit to my teammates. Dante (Hannoun) passed to me with a wide-open net, Wally (Scott Walford) obviously had two really good shots and I just happened to get my stick on them and they went in.”
Five Victoria goals in the game were redirects past Portland goalie Shane Farkas. Asked if redirects were something the team spends extra time on, Fizer commented “Yeah, we work on that after practice all the time. It’s one of those things that you need in a game of inches.”
Royals Head Coach Dan Price was happy for his young forward. “Really proud of Fizer on how hard he works. He’s one of our best defensive players. He’s fast, he’s physical and he understands the game. And he is courageous enough to go and be around the net where the pucks are going to come. You’re going to takes cross-checks and slashes and all those things. But if you stand there you will be rewarded.”
Along with Fizer, twelve other Victoria players registed points, including four points each for Dante Hannoun and Scott Walford. Portland did not go easily, putting four goals past Griffen Outhouse, one of which included a highlight reel goal by Cross Hanas. The game had a great pace full of action, setting the scene for a rematch tomorrow.
To start the game, Victoria had the Winterhawks hemmed in there zone. Early shots were 6-1 in favour of the Royals. Hanas quickly put an end to that momentum, as he scored a beautiful wrap-around goal at 4:04 to make it 1-0. Hanas showed excellent hands as he navigated around the Victoria defenceman and carried it past a forward for the scoring chance. The goal was good enough to be the WHL’s highlight of the night.
? WHL Highlight of the Night ?
December 11, 2018@hanner71 of the @pdxwinterhawks#WHLHoN pic.twitter.com/YUqBbjAwyO— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 12, 2018
The goal seemed to ignite Portland, as the next two shifts saw them press into the Victoria zone, including a 3-on-1 that Griffen Outhouse had to blocker away.
Portland made it 2-0 at 10:51 as Joachim Blichfeld was the recipient of a gift pass right out front. Blichfeld would not miss at that range and scored his 27th of the season, with Ryan Hughes getting the lone assist for the nice pass.
Victoria answered back almost immediately, in oddly enough a very similar goal as Blichfeld. Tarun Fizer buried his fifth of the year from out front, taking the slick pass from Dante Hannoun who carried behind the net.
The Royals were able to tie it up after some nice work on the side-boards Tyler Lees led to a tic-tac-toe play with Brandon Culter getting the goal. Dino Kambeitz drew the first assist after finding Culter for the goal.
Victoria scored a late dagger with 3.3 seconds remaining in the first period. Ralph Jarratt fired the puck towards the net from the blueline and it looked to deflect a couple times before beating Shane Farkas.
A penalty-free period ignited after the end of period whistle as a scrum lead to Tanner Sidaway and Matthew Quigley dropping the gloves for the games first penalties.
Victoria kept the momentum going to start the second, again led by Hannoun working from behind the net. Hannoun looked to make a pass attempt, but the puck took a lucky bounce off the Portland defender’s skate and into the net for a goal to make it 4-2.
The Royals poured it on, as 40 seconds later Fizer got his second of the night at 3:47. Fizer worked the front of the net and deflected a point shot to beat Farkas. The Winterhawks pushed back on a power play from a Ralph Jarratt slash, but Outhouse was equal to the task.
Portland got one back as Mason Mannek took a pass in the slot and wired home a shot over the blocker of Outhouse to make it 5-3 at 15:49 of the second.
Victoria scored another goal from traffic in front of Farkas, and this one sent hats flying to the ice. Fizer tipped a point shot again, this time down to the ice for his first career hat-trick goal. After two periods of play, the home teams offense looked in gear with a 6-3 lead.
The third period saw a couple players get their second goals of the night. First it was Dante Hannoun firing home a wrister off a broken play in the Portland zone. Hannoun’s 12th goal of the season at 5:09 gave Victoria the 7-3 lead. With the goal, Farkas was done for the night as Dante Giannuzzi came in as relief. It was then Hanas’ turn for a second of the night at 9:51, a goal that was punctuated by a red-light wrestling match in the crease between Ralph Jarratt and Jake Gricius.
That was it for the scoring, as Victoria skated away with an impressive 7-4 victory, snapping Portland’s four game winning streak.
For the most part, the referees allowed the two teams to play, allowing some aggressive play to slide a little. Asked if that helped some momentum, Price agreed “I think the referees did a really good job tonight. Early in the game I disagreed with a couple of things, but one good thing about this officiating crew is that they are very communicative throughout. They heard us, and let us know their side of things. I thought they did a good job of controlling the game as it went on.”
The rematch Wednesday looks to be promising as Portland will be looking for redemption and Victoria will look to build some momentum before the holiday break.
