Royals Split B.C. Road Trip, Earning Two Shootout Wins

The Royals went on a B.C. division crusade this week, playing four games in five days and coming away with a couple of wins. Here's how it all went down.

The Royals had a positive start to their matchup against the Kamloops Blazers on October 22, with a perfectly executed deflection from Brayden Boehm followed by a wicked one-knee snipe from Cole Reschny putting them up 2-0 within the first eight minutes of play. Unfortunately, this would be the last offensive bright spot for the majority of the game. In the second half of play, the Royals were disjointed, unable to connect on passes, and may as well have bought tickets to the game the way they sat and watched Kamloops skate right by them in their own zone. Jayden Kraus was one of few positives, stopping multiple breakaways after being swapped in for goaltending partner Spencer Michnik, but even with Reggie Newman's residence being right there in Kamloops, the Royals defense wasn't worth writing home about. The Blazers would take this one with a score of 6-3.

The next night was much more positive. Wednesday, October 23 showcased a physical, intense, back-and-forth showdown between the Royals and their longtime rival in the Kelowna Rockets. Victoria would open the scoring once again, with Captain Kipkie cashing in on a beautiful tac-tac-toe tap-in on a great zone entry. The Rockets would strike back quickly however, barely squeaking a puck across the line that was initially ruled no-goal. The Royals came out aggressive to begin this one, particularly Justin Kipkie, who displayed his excellent two-way capabilities by moving the puck quickly and shutting down opposing rush chances. Things would slow down in the second period, before ramping up again in the final frame. The Royals played a strong third period, holding Kelowna to four shots while firing off 15 of their own. Just when it seemed like a comeback may not be within reach, who else but Cole Goals would tie it at three with 30 seconds left in regulation. Victoria entered overtime with a powerplay, but were unable to collect a goal, leading to an uneasy shootout. Both Reschny and Boehm would wire shots past Kelowna goaltender Jake Pilon, but it was Jayden Kraus who secured the victory, making an absolutely phenomenal save on ninth-overall NHL draft pick Tij Iginla and taking a tight win over the Rockets.

The Royals would then go on to face the offensive titans and B.C. division leaders that were the Prince George Cougars. The first game against the Cougars on October 25 was a messy, heated affair. In the end, Victoria's poor discipline was their undoing, as they would lose Friday's contest 6-3. The next game was a different story. A wild opening period saw a ton of collisions, turnovers, and sloppy defense. It wasn't until the third that things would truly begin to heat up, with the Royals gaining a 3-1 lead on a simply epic Justin Kipkie clapper. Both teams would net an additional goal to keep things close, with Seth Fryer kicking in an unfortunate own goal, and Teydon Trembecky bouncing the puck off of two Prince George defenders and into the back of the net. The Cougars, however, determined not to let Victoria get away with this one, would mount a desperate last-minute comeback, sniping one with 33 seconds left to tie the game. After a nail-biter of an overtime, things would once again fall to a shootout. The deadlock would go for an epic eight rounds, with Pickford ripping one right by the Cougars netminder to end it. Once again, the star of the shootout was Jayden Kraus, who faced a total of 12 shootout attempts against him in three games, and stopped all but two.

This win over the Cougars pushes the Victoria Royals up to first in the B.C. division and second in the entire Western Conference. The Royals will look to keep things rolling on Friday, November 1, when they will face the defending champs and a couple of familiar faces in the Moose Jaw Warriors.