If there is a hockey equivalent of taking a knee, the Victoria Royals should try it when facing an Eastern Conference team with a losing record.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes buried the Royals under an avalanche of six power-play goals in a 10-4 victory Tuesday night before 3,807 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre to snap an eight-game Western Hockey League losing streak.
The Red Deer Rebels ended a six-game losing skid last week on Blanshard by shocking the Royals 5-3, and then promptly left the Island and started a new three-game losing streak. The Edmonton Oil Kings, now last in the entire WHL, went ahead 2-0 on Blanshard this month before the hard-pressed Royals rallied for a 3-2 win.
What made Tuesday night’s meltdown even more perplexing is that the Royals (16-8-1) were coming off two very difficult and impressive weekend road wins in eastern Washington state against Spokane and Tri City.
“We started out all right and then it got away from us … Lethbridge outplayed us tonight,” said Victoria forward Tyler Soy.
“It just goes to show you can’t take any game in this league for granted.”
Victoria head coach Dan Price talked about “respect for your opponents” and not being concerned about their recent form or won-lost records.
“It’s about this game,” Price said.
And it wasn’t a very good one for the hosts.
“[The Hurricanes] are well coached and were hungry for a win,” Price said.
“Lethbridge won a lot of races to pucks. We have to make sure we’re first to the puck. I thought our team was prepared. [But] tonight we weren’t prepared to play.”
That falls to him, said Price: “I take 100 per cent responsibility for the result.”
Yet despite their recent woes and 8-12-1 record, this is not a bad Hurricanes team. Their top-end talent is fearsome. It includes forwards Jordy Bellerive, signed to an NHL entry-level contract by the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Giorgio Estephan, who has already played pro in the AHL with the Rochester Americans.
Sixteen-year-old rookie forward Dylan Cozens is going to be something special. Offensive-minded blueliner Calen Addison is projected for the second or third rounds of the 2018 NHL draft, and fellow rearguard Tate Olson was taken in the seventh round of the 2015 draft by the Vancouver Canucks.
It’s no surprise the Lethbridge power play is top-10 in the league, and it showed its potency by going 6-10.
The home fans lamented, with loud booing, some of the admittedly strange calls against the Royals. But that didn’t change the fact that Victoria’s penalty kill and goaltending wasn’t up to the challenge on this night. And trying to blame a blowout loss on the officiating is just plain strange logic in itself.
“It’s about keeping our emotions in check,” concurred Soy, about the Royals’ run of penalties Tuesday night.
Estephan’s quick hands on the power play put the Canes ahead 3-2 in the second period. Addison then took an Estephan feed and went high corner to put Lethbridge up by two at 9:32. Ryan Vandervlis completed his hat trick at 11:59. Estephan’s second odd-man goal, and yet another power-play goal by Bellerive, made it 7-2 in a five-goal Lethbridge second period.
“Our penalty-killing definitely needs to be better,” said Price, in maybe the understatement of the night.
Matthew Phillips and defenceman Chaz Reddekopp scored on the power play for Victoria and Soy got one short-handed. The other Victoria goal, the first of the game, came from defenceman Matthew Smith and was but a remote memory by the time this night was over.
Six-foot-four Lethbridge goaltender Stuart Skinner, a third-round NHL draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers in June, made 18 saves before giving way to Reece Klassen in garbage time. Griffen Outhouse and Dean McNabb combined to stop 27 shots for Victoria.
Soy picked up an assist with his short-handed goal and is now one point adrift of Brandon Magee’s all-time franchise record for career points. Soy has 263 points on 124 goals and 139 assists over 277 games with Victoria.
Magee, now in U Sports with his hometown University of Alberta Golden Bears, amassed 264 points on 113 goals and 151 assists over 318 games in four seasons with the Royals and one with the predecessor Chilliwack Bruins.
The Royals conclude the home stand on Friday and Saturday against the defending WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds.
