TRI CITY 6 (OT)
VICTORIA 5
The comeback kings had the tables turned on them Saturday night.
The Victoria Royals (16-7-2) won their previous two games with rallies from behind to defeat the Edmonton Oil Kings and Vancouver Giants.
But turnabout proved fair play for the Tri City Americans (9-13-1), who fell behind 5-3 in a frenetic first period to the Royals, then steadily chipped away with three unanswered goals in a 6-5 Western Hockey League overtime victory before 4,325 fans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Washington.
Russian-import Vladislav Lukin scored the winner at 1:38 of three-on-three extra time.
The Royals faced a daunting overnight bus ride from Friday night’s game in Vancouver and got into eastern Washington at 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Royals coach Dave Lowry said of the scheduling.
“So, we’ll take the point.”
Then there was another overnight, six-hour drive from Kennewick to Tsawwassen, followed by a ferry ride this morning back to the Island. Welcome to life in junior hockey.
The game Saturday night began with eight goals in an offensively bombastic first period as Victoria took its 5-3 lead on two goals by Tyler Soy and one each from Dante Hannoun, Logan Fisher and a short-handed counter from defenceman Chaz Reddekopp. If that outburst wasn’t enough, there was the added drama of Victoria’s Jack Walker missing a penalty shot in that opening period.
The five goals tied the Victoria/Chilliwack franchise record for most goals in one period. It has been done on five previous occasions. The eight goals also tied the franchise record for the most by two teams in one period.
Things then settled down as the persistent Americans kept plugging and drew level at 5-5 on a second-period goal by 20-year-old Californian Brian Williams and a goal in the third-period by six-foot-two defenceman Jusso Valimaki, captain of the Finnish U-17 national side.
Victoria starter Coleman Vollrath was chased from the net in the first period for the second consecutive night after allowing three Tri City goals.
Rookie Griffen Outhouse allowed the final three Americans goals.
The Royals are at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre next Friday and Saturday to take on the defending WHL-champion Kelowna Rockets in a reprise of last spring’s second-round playoff series won 4-1 by Kelowna.
ICE CHIPS: Joe Hicketts, with an assist Friday in Vancouver and another assist Saturday in Tri City, has surpassed Brandon Manning’s previous record of 136 for the most career points by a blueliner in the 10-season franchise history of the Victoria Royals/Chilliwack Bruins. Hicketts has 25 goals and 113 assists in 191 games for the Royals and is now on 138 career points and counting. Manning, now in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers, had 45 goals and 91 assists in 200 games for the Bruins.
