Who are these guys?
That question could have been asked of both the Victoria Royals and Vancouver Giants on Friday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Looking like a completely different team under former Winnipeg Jets NHL head coach Claude Noel, the Giants won their fifth consecutive game by riding their special teams with three power-play goals and a short-handed counter to a 6-3 WHL victory over the Royals.
Four of Vancouver’s five consecutive wins have come under Noel, who is 4-0 after taking over the Giants bench Nov. 30 from former Victoria Salmon Kings ECHL coach Troy Ward. The first win in the streak was under assistant coach Matt Erhart after Ward was jettisoned but before Noel arrived.
Friday was the first of eight games as Royals head coach for Enio Sacilotto, normally the assistant, who is filling in while Dave Lowry is away as assistant coach for Canada at the upcoming world junior hockey championship.
“We played in spurts and were inconsistent,” said Sacilotto. “Our team defence and special teams were not very good. We’ve got to execute and play better and with more emotion and heart.”
It’s going to take awhile to adjust to life without Lowry.
“Dave puts some fear into guys and that makes some guys tick,” said forward Brandon Magee, who scored for Victoria.
Missing for the Royals was defenceman Joe Hicketts, who is at the Canadian team selection camp for the world junior championship. And it showed. Much of Victoria’s offence starts with the progressive puck-moving Hicketts. That offence looked listless and lost Friday as the shots were 30-11 for Vancouver with three minutes remaining in the second period.
“We’ve got to have a short-term memory and be better [tonight when the Royals (17-15-2) and Giants (14-18) meet again at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver]," said Magee. "We’ve got to help Enio out and get some wins. We didn’t do that tonight.”
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The 4,605 fans clutching their stuffed animals were left wondering not only when they were going to get to throw them on the ice for charity on Teddy Bear Toss Night, but when Victoria was even going to get its first shot on net. That didn’t come until nine minutes into the game.
It finally rained bears at 2:33 of the second period when Royals forward Axel Blomqvist tapped home a Travis Brown rebound for his 14th goal of the season.
“It was a good feeling,” said Blomqvist.
But it didn’t last very long.
“We were not good enough at all tonight,” said Jets’ NHL prospect Blomqvist.
Defenceman Mason Geertsen and forward Thomas Foster had a goal and assist each for Vancouver. But the goal of the game was rookie Tyler Benson’s shorthanded goal for the Giants, on an astonishingly quick swoop from behind the net.
Jack Palmer scored the other Victoria goal.
It was the last Royals home date until Dec. 27 against Prince George.
