The Victoria Royals and Everett Silvertips battled in a close game Wednesday night with the difference coming late in the third period.
Everett was clutch in the final frame, holding off the Victoria attack and sealing the game with a Jackson Berezowski goal with less than five minutes remaining.
The night was filled with minor infractions for both teams and directed the flow of the game throughout the evening. The special teams situations forced each goalie to be sharp, especially Victoria’s Shane Farkas, as the Royals found themselves with the lion’s share of the penalty minutes.
Royals head coach Dan Price took issue with his team’s discipline on the evening and had no problem with the officiating. “I think they were all penalties. Absolutely. The referees and the league have been very clear on the standards of rule enforcement, and we didn’t execute properly. We took penalties, deservedly so, and that’s my job to make sure that gets sorted out right away.”
“I thought we took too many penalties,” said Royals forward Tarun Fizer. “We dominated the game five-on-five until we got caught in the box. And that’s when they got all our scoring chances. In the first period, we were dominating them until we took a couple bad penalties.”
While the penalty killers were busy for the Royals, their power play was sharp on the evening. Victoria went 2-for-4 on the man advantage, with Price giving credit to time spent in practice. “Our assistant coaches work hard with our players on the special teams tactics and technique. They’ve been putting in weeks of work on the power play to make sure that it’s confident and really clicking. And we really saw that again tonight with two very important power-play goals.”
With all the special teams play, goalies Farkas and Everett’s Dustin Wolf had to be on their games. Farkas was peppered in the last five minutes of the first period as Victoria started its penalty woes, finally giving up a power-play goal to the red-hot Bryce Kindopp.
The Victoria netminder saw 41 shots on the evening, turning away all but three. “We didn’t get the result that we wanted. But if there’s a silver lining in this, it’s still early in the year. A lot of the guys are still learning systems. So, even though it didn’t turn out with a win, it was definitely a step in in the right direction.”
Farkas had seen a lot of Everett during his time in the U.S. Division while he was a member of the Portland Winterhawks. When asked if it was an advantage, he said, “For sure. Knowing players and some team systems, the familiarity from being in Portland and playing these teams a lot.”
Coming into the game, Victoria looked to avenge a lop-sided loss in their season opener in Everett, a 6-0 defeat. For the rematch on Wednesday, the Royals had already caught a break as Gage Goncalves was out of the lineup after sustaining an upper-body injury on Saturday at Kamloops. Goncalves had 4 assists for the Silvertips against Victoria, a career high.
Victoria had its share of players out of the lineup, as Carson Miller, Ty Yoder, Alex Bolshakov, Graeme Bryks, and Riley Gannon were all unavailable.
There was good news for Victoria, as Phillip Schultz returned from injury and suited up for his first game of the season. Kaid Oliver was also playing in his first home game of the season, after a lengthy absence due to a shoulder injury.
Victoria opened the scoring early at 2:34 of the first period, as Fizer netted his second goal of the season. Fizer’s shot looked to deflect off the Everett defender and past Wolf to put Victoria up 1-0.
Late in the first period, the Royals got into penalty trouble and the Silvertips made them pay. The dangerous Kindopp buried it at 18:34 for his WHL-leading eighth goal of the season. Coming into tonight’s action, the Lloydminster, AB, native had racked up 12 points (7g, 5a) in the first five games of the season.
To start the second period, Everett remained on the power play but this time were unable to capitalize.
Everett did manage to take the lead as Brendan Lee stepped over the blue line and wired a rocket over Farkas’ shoulder at 2:10, making it a 2-1 game in favor of the Silvertips.
On a later Victoria power play, Fizer had an excellent chance with a wide-open net but could not covert.
Farkas looked sharp through the second, notably stopping Kindopp from recording his second goal of the game.
Victoria capitalized with the man advaPntage at 16:25 as Logan Doust found the puck at the side of the net after a Wolf rebound. Doust’s first goal of the season was the second power-play goal of the night for the Royals and tied the game at 2-2.
A tight game into the third period saw the referees’ whistles cease. Both clubs traded chances without either gaining a true advantage midway through the period.
Everett pulled ahead again with less than four minutes left as Berezowski converted a pass from Michal Gut to pull his club ahead 3-2. The game winner was a nice bounce-back for Berezowski after leaving Saturday’s game at Kamloops with a lower-body injury.
A late penalty to Everett’s Max Patterson with only 26.7 seconds remaining gave the Royals some hope and led to a flurry of action. Wolf came up with a couple of huge saves, and Fizer fanned on a wide-open net.
The Silvertips hung on for the victory, their third in row, and have a record of 4-2-0-0. Everett now returns home from their four-game road trip to take on the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The loss drops the Royals’ record to 2-3-0-0 with the club headed to face the Tri-City Americans Friday night in Kennewick, WA.
Game Notes
- With the limited roster, 16-year-old Cage Newans drew into the game — his first regular season game with the Royals. A Vancouver Island product from Qualicum Beach, Newans leads Oceanside Generals of the VIHJL with 14 points (7g, 7a) in nine games. Postgame, Newans commented on the first WHL game experience, “I’ve been watching these guys since I was seven, eight years old. To be able to sit on the bench and play a couple shifts was unreal. It was definitely a dream come true and a moment I’ll always remember.”
Cage Newans (photo-Gord Rufh) - With a goal and an assist in the game, Kindopp added to his league leading goal and point total. The Everett 20-year-old had 14 points (8g, 6a) in six games.
- In the final seconds of the game, Royals forward Gary Haden came up favouring what appeared to be his leg and had to be helped off the ice. No word yet on his condition.
