Brian Liesse

Victoria scores late to steal Seattle’s thunder

(Victoria, BC) – The Seattle Thunderbirds (11-10-1-1) came into the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena tonight to kickoff a pair of games versus the Victoria Royals (17-8-1-0) in a North vs South battle.  The Royals had not beat the T-Birds at home since March 2nd 2015, and looked to erase a painful 10-4 loss last Tuesday. Seattle on the other hand, had recently come off a pair of wins at home, including a big win over the Regina Pats. Griffen Outhouse got the call again for Victoria, after surrendering four goals on 19 shots in his last game and getting the hook. For Seattle, it was Matt Berlin in net, who was making his third consecutive start and looking for his third win in a row.

Early in the first period Seattle came out quickly and at 1:10 Outhouse was forced to make an acrobatic leg save to keep it scoreless. Reece Harsch looked like he opened the scoring for Seattle, but the puck hit the post. The Thunderbirds did strike first at 5:04 as Sami Moilanen had a nice tip on a Turner Ottenbreit shot to beat Outhouse. In what seems to become a pattern lately at home, the Royals gave up the first goal and trailed in shots. At 6:39 Victoria pulled even as Igor Martynov took the feed from Dante Hannoun and wristed home a goal. The T-Birds took the lead again at 11:34 as Zack Andrusiak banged home a rebound from in close. The first period closed with Seattle up 2-1 and shots in also in favour of the visiting team 15-13.

In the early second, Outhouse was forced to make some big saves against the Seattle powerplay, and “Brickhouse” blared on the in-house music to celebrate his efforts. Martynov continued his strong game for Victoria, having two scoring chances on Berlin and was clearly the best Royals forward thus far. Head coach Dan Price put out five forwards out for a powerplay and the move immediately pays dividends as at 9:44 as Matthew Phillips fought off a check out in front to tie it 2-2. Victoria seemed to be matching lines better, leading to puck possession, some momentum  and eventually forced the Thunderbirds into some penalty trouble. In a reversal of recent years, this period saw Victoria taking the body to Seattle as Martynov, Kaid Oliver and Dino Kambeitz all laid big hits to the visiting team, including one that sent Thunderbirds captain Turner Ottenbreit briefly to the bench. At 19:27, Outhouse could not control a rebound though and Dillion Hamaliuk put it in for a 3-2 T-Bird lead. The goal was a late dagger in what was a good period by the Royals. Seattle’s resiliency paid off. The second period ended with shots 29-17 for the visitors.

Immediately to start the third period, Eric Florchuk took a penalty for holding at fifteen seconds and Outhouse again was forced to come up with big saves. Seattle settled in and looked very much in control to start the period. Jared Legien finished a drive to the net by pushing the Seattle defender into Berlin, setting of a minor donnybrook in the corner. As the penalties were being sorted, the two heavyweights in Ottenbreit and Chaz Reddekopp exchanged pleasantries at centre ice. Tyler Soy went down on a partial break, the listed 5,079 fans in attendance screamed he was hooked or interfered with and the “Boo-Birds on Blanshard” rained down. On replay it was clear it was more of a fall, and the refs got the call correct. Seattle looked on pace to close the game out, but Martynov quickly shook a defender behind the Seattle net to come out front and tuck the puck home at 17:55. Victoria then went in for the win as Jared Legien bulled down the wing and drove to the net, tucking home the game-winner with just 18 seconds remaining. Legien on the game winning goal: “Freadrich made a nice chip up the wall, I saw the lane and was able to get my body positioned inside and luckily I was able to get it past him.” Legien gave the big on-ice celebration and the arena erupted. Victoria came back to win by a score of 4-3, with shots 46-23 for Seattle.

Jared Legien with the GWG

After the game, head coach Dan Price reflected on what it took for the victory “That was a good example of perseverance by the whole team. We needed everybody in the third period, every forward, every defenceman, under all kinds of situations. We are happy we found a way to come from behind, getting big plays at big moments.”

Outhouse, the game’s first star praised the defense in front of him “I’m proud of the way they battled in front, they never gave up on anything.” The Royals netminder made multiple huge saves, faced a lot of shots and had a few occasions when the Thunderbirds knocked him into the net. It was the rebound game the Victoria goalie needed to get back on track.

The two teams go at again Saturday night with puck drop at 7:05pm.

Royals Notes

– Tonight the Royals held Downie Wenjack Fund Night, in attendance was Mike Downie, the Co-Founder of the Downie & Wenjack Fund and the co-creator of the graphic novel and film, The Secret Path. With his late brother Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip and artist Jeff Lemire, they created the graphic novel and film to tell the story of Chanie Wenjack, an Ojibway boy who died while running away from his residential school in October of 1966. A hand-painted mask was given to Downie, as well as another to be auctioned off.

– Remy Aquilon (’01) played in his first WHL game, wearing number three for the Royals. The native of Kelowna, BC was signed by the Royals this summer after being listed on their 50-man protected list

– Victoria debuted their new white third jerseys, similar to their black “lion-head” jersey. Initial fan reaction was super positive and likely sales will be brisk this holiday season

– Tyler Soy was held off the scoresheet, and still needs one point to tie Brandon Magee’s all-time franchise point record for career points (264 points)