SEATTLE 4
VICTORIA 1
Defenceman Shea Theodore showed again Tuesday night why he is one of the marquee players in the Western Hockey League. The 2013 first-round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks scored and added two assists to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-1 victory over the Victoria Royals (34-26-4) before an announced crowd of 4,361 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
“He’s a dynamic player . . . that was the difference tonight,” said Royals coach Dave Lowry, who guided Theodore as assistant coach of the gold-medallist Canadian team at the 2015 world junior championships.
“We didn’t hit him tonight.”
Lowry wasn’t exactly enamored of his team’s effort in other areas, either.
“It’s not acceptable this time of year. We didn’t compete nearly hard enough,” said the Victoria bench boss.
“There is a lot more some guys have to give. But we’ll get back to work. I’m not worried where we’ll be in 21Ú2 to three weeks [playoff time].”
The Thunderbirds (32-23-9) avenged a 3-2 shootout loss to Victoria on Monday night as the Royals finished their season series against Seattle 2-2.
Mathew Barzal, dangerous in both games on Blanshard, had two assists Tuesday to further burnish his credentials as a projected high first-round draft pick for the 2015 NHL draft.
While Theodore and Barzal have been Thunderbird developed, veteran Seattle GM Russ Farwell has also been good at finding useful older players mid-season. Cory Millette, a productive 20-year-old trade addition, recorded his 23rd point in his 24th game for Seattle, by giving the T-Birds the lead just 1:13 into the game. Roberts Lipsbergs, a 20-year-old from Latvia who began the season in the minor-pros with Stockton Thunder of the ECHL, assisted on the play for his 29th point in his 25th game for Seattle.
Theodore broke down the right side to make it 2-0 with his 11th goal of the season at 17:03 of the first. Theodore then picked up an assist on fellow blue-liner Jarret Smith’s power-play goal at 8:50 of the second period.
Seattle goaltender Taran Kozun, who entered the game with a league-leading goals-against average of 2.38, helped his own cause toward that title with a 29-save performance in his 55th appearance of the season. Kozun kept Victoria off the scoresheet until 2:08 of the third period when defenceman Joe Hicketts, on the power play, ripped home his 11th of the season. Nolan Volcan of Seattle completed scoring.
“We’re not up to the level we need to be. Our leadership group has to take that upon itself,” said Hicketts, who was a Canadian teammate of Theodore’s at the 2015 world juniors.
“If you don’t key on certain guys [like Theodore], they will make you pay.”
Which is exactly what Theodore did.
“We made it really easy for him tonight,” said Hicketts.
Power-forward Austin Carroll, the Royals’ leading goal scorer, concurred.
“We didn’t bring our game and we paid for it,” said the 20-year-old, who this week became the all-time franchise record holder for career penalty minutes.
Coleman Vollrath, starting for the second consecutive night, made 22 saves in goal for Victoria.
The Royals are up north for two games in Prince George on Friday and Saturday against a Cougars squad that is in a tight race to make the playoffs.
ICE CHIPS: Seattle assistant coach Matt O’Dette is no stranger to the Memorial Centre, having played seven ECHL seasons against the Victoria Salmon Kings as a member of the Fresno Falcons and Stockton Thunder.
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
