Royals Rebound
The Royals wrapped up a two-game, two-win weekend in interior B.C. on Saturday night, showing great promise in almost every facet of their game.
Victoria escaped with a narrow 2-1 win in Kelowna on Friday, with their somewhat messy offense bailed out by strong defense and excellent goaltending by Spencer Michnik, who stopped 27 of 28 shots. The Royals came back much stronger in Kamloops, however, blazing a trail to a 5-2 win over the Blazers that saw Reggie Newman seal the deal with a 200-foot shot into an empty Kamloops net for his first of the campaign.
The highlight of this weekend's competition for the Royals has undoubtedly been the blueline. Victoria defense has done a phenomenal job of keeping shooters to the outside in their defending zone, and very rarely are they outnumbered against the rush, not to mention a tight penalty kill that's been doing a great job of limiting shots. This strong defensive play isn't just coming from the top line though, with the depth of the Royals' blueline really coming into play this weekend. The dynamic, fast-paced, puck-moving pairing of Keaton Verhoeff and Cosmo Wilson was on full display in Kamloops, as well as the towering duo of Nate Misskey and Seth Fryer, stomping out almost any scoring chance their opponents could cobble together.
No matter how good your defense is, no team can win games without a solid goalie. Before the season began, the question was out there as to whether the Royals' goaltending would be up to snuff this year. Jayden Kraus and Spencer Michnik have stepped up and answered it. With the two goalies playing one game each on this weekend road trip and only giving up a total of three goals over those two games, the Royals crease looks to be in confident, lightning-quick hands so far this season.
With Cole Reschny and Reggie Newman both earning their first lamplighters of the season, as well as determined rookie Nolan Stewart scoring his first WHL goal, the Royals that played this weekend were a strong, fast, well-rounded team that made a convincing case for being a real contender this season.
