VICTORIA 3 KAMLOOPS 2
It’s been slow to build. But back-to-back Friday and Saturday capacity crowds of 7,006 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre indicate this edition of the Victoria Royals may be piquing the interest of the city. The club is also expecting to sell out the season-closing home game next Friday.
The Royals won their fifth consecutive contest, and 12th of the last 13, with a 3-2 Western Hockey League victory Saturday over the Kamloops Blazers.
The Royals, who are ranked an all-time franchise-high No. 8 in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll, moved to 47-17-4 overall and are 29-4-3 since Dec. 12.
The previous record for most points in a season, in the eight-year history of the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals franchise, was 77, set last year. The Royals have absolutely destroyed that standard this season and are currently on 98 points.
Victoria got it done early Saturday, with goals by Taylor Crunk, rearguard Brett Cote and rookie Tyler Soy by the time the game was six minutes old and then hung on grimly as the lowly Blazers eventually made a game of it.
“I loved the way we started and our first period overall. But we gave [Kamloops] an opportunity to hang around and they took advantage of it,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
“Sometimes, you fall into that trap . . . but in the end, it’s a win.”
Crunk’s goal came at just nine seconds to tie the record for the fastest goal in franchise history, matching Ryan Howse’s goal at nine seconds on Jan. 11, 2011, against Seattle when the Royals were still the Chilliwack Bruins. The formerly touted Howse, a third-round Calgary Flames draft pick who did not follow the team to Victoria, split his professional career between the ECHL and AHL and is now out of pro hockey.
Informed after the game of his record-tying feat, Crunk said: “That’s cool.”
“We came out ready to go, but Kamloops did a good job coming back,” added the product of California hockey. “We have to get ready for the post-season, so we go into each match-up now looking at it as a playoff game.”
The Royals ended up needing every one of those early goals as third-period Kamloops counters by Matt Needham and Matt Revel, the latter on the power play, made it tight. Victoria goaltender Patrik Polivka finished with 18 stops, including a couple of game-savers in the waning moments. Bolton Pouliot blocked 26 shots for Kamloops (13-51-5), which lost its seventh-consecutive game.
Victoria won the season series 7-1 against Kamloops.
The Royals are down to four regular-season games remaining — Tuesday in Kelowna against the nationally top-ranked Rockets, Wednesday in Vancouver, Friday at home to the Everett Silvertips and next Saturday at Everett.
The Royals will be third seed in the Western Conference playoffs, which open March 22-23 at the Memorial Centre.
ICE CHIPS: Forward and Florida Panthers-prospect Steven Hodges (undisclosed) and Flames-signed defenceman Keegan Kanzig (flu), both scratched Saturday by Victoria, are day-to-day. . . . Missing for the Blazers, with an injury, was defensive mainstay Sam Grist of North Saanich. It denied the graduating 20-year-old a final hometown appearances as a WHLer.
