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Red-hot Victoria Royals roll over Blazers

A capacity crowd of 7,006 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, along with a league-wide audience on Shaw-TV, had the same question.
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Royals forward Tyler Soy has a goal and three assists for the Canadian U-18s.

A capacity crowd of 7,006 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, along with a league-wide audience on Shaw-TV, had the same question. Are the Victoria Royals, who are experiencing a breakout season, for real?

The Royals answered in the affirmative with a 5-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Kamloops Blazers for their fourth straight win and are now a searing 28-4-3 since Dec. 12. The Royals, who are ranked No. 8 in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll, moved to 46-17-4 overall and 11-1 in the last 12 games.

Maybe fitting because he plays in Steve Nash’s hometown, Ben Walker turned in a hockey version of vintage hoops Nash — distributing for four assists to lead the Royals.

“I had my legs tonight and was moving my feet,” said Walker, the 20-year-old forward from Minnesota.

Scoring for Victoria were Axel Blomqvist, Brandon Magee, Jack Walker, Brett Cote and Travis Brown. Magee and Brown finished with two points each as Victoria’s even depth of team scoring was again evident.

“Every guy on our team can play,” said Walker.

“We’ve got a deep roster, which is nice to have.”

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Ryan Rehill answered for Kamloops’ lone goal. The latter six-foot-three, 215-pounder had a busy night for the Blazers, also engaging the Royals’ six-foot-five, 242-pound defenceman Keegan Kanzig in a heavyweight exchange of fists early in the second period.

Victoria goaltender Patrik Polivka had fairly easy time of it in victory with just 17 saves. Bolton Pouliot was considerably more harried in the Kamloops nets with 40 shots faced.

“We have a strong, deep team,” said Magee.

“And we want to stay well structured heading into the playoffs … we can’t be playing river hockey.”

While the Royals’ recent numbers are all impressive, not so for the Blazers, who lost their sixth straight game. What a difference a year makes. At this point in 2013, the Blazers were on their way to a second consecutive 47-win season and second straight first-round playoff elimination of the Royals. On Friday night, they lost their 50th game of this season against just 13 wins in a dramatic reversal of fortune.

“I’ve heard comments about junior hockey being unpredictable,” sighed Kamloops head coach Guy Charron.

“But we need to get a bit more consistency. It’s not a matter of winning at this point. Right now, it’s a matter of [the players] competing to solidify [their] positions for next season.”

It was a night to cue the Welcome Back Kotter theme. The Royals were playing for the first time in the Memorial Centre since Feb. 12, after which they embarked on a combined 6,600-kilometre road trip in which they finished 6-1.

Victoria leads 6-1 in the season series against Kamloops, which concludes tonight at the Memorial Centre when the clubs close out their account for 2013-14.

ICE CHIPS: Victoria forward and Florida Panthers-prospect Steven Hodges, who was scratched Friday, is day-to-day . . . Missing for Kamloops, with an upper-body injury, was 20-year-old defensive mainstay Sam Grist of North Saanich.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com