VICTORIA 3
MOOSE JAW 0
With apologies to Dinah Washington, but what a difference a day made, just 24 little hours.
The Victoria Royals defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-0 on Saturday night before 5,275 fans, after being hammered 9-2 the night before by Kelowna at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Goaltender Griffen Outhouse, who allowed seven of those nine Kelowna goals, responded with a 36-save shutout performance against the Eastern Conference No. 3 Warriors (26-11-7), coached by former Canucks and Flames NHLer Tim Hunter.
“It was good to have a bounce back,” Outhouse said.
“We told ourselves to have a playoff-type mindset. It doesn't matter how much you lose a game by, you just have to get back at it and win the next one.”
Asked it he had a message for his players pre-game Saturday in the wake of the Kelowna debacle, Royals coach Dave Lowry deadpanned: “Be better than we were [Friday] night.”
That’s what the Royals were on Saturday.
“That [victory] is exactly what we needed. [Friday's loss] was just one game and that’s what we needed to keep in perspective,” said Lowry.
Meanwhile, it’s hard to imagine two Western Hockey League cities that have less in common than seaside Victoria and the Prairie community Moose Jaw. On the ice however, there was no shortage of familiarity as the Warriors made their once-every-two-years visit to Blanshard Street.
Victoria forward Blake Bargar looked to hit everything in sight in his first shift as he faced his former Moose Jaw team.
Forwards Carter Folk of Victoria and Brayden Burke of Moose Jaw were teammates last season in Lethbridge.
Current Warriors players Thomas Foster, Josh Thrower, Justin Almeida and Spencer Bast are no strangers to the Memorial Centre as former players in the B.C. Division.
The only thing missing was injured Warriors forward and former Royals prospect Noah Gregor, finalist for the 2015-16 WHL rookie of the year award, which was won by Matthew Phillips of the Royals.
It was an odd old-home week, to be sure, but that’s what it was as the Royals (23-18-4) snapped a three-game losing skid.
Victoria is now 9-2 overall and 7-1 at home this season against Eastern Conference teams.
The Royals held WHL goals leader and No. 3 in points Jayden Halbgewachs (38 goals and 70 points) — an undrafted five-foot-eight, 160-pound 19-year-old — at bay.
Tyler Soy opened the scoring unassisted at 12:26 of the first period on a glaring turnover by Burke.
It was just the kind of tide-turning break the Royals needed after the Kelowna disaster.
“We brought intensity and had a lot more jump — and we forechecked,” said Soy, an Anaheim Ducks draft-pick.
Victoria forward Regan Nagy was especially a dervish on the forecheck.
Maple Leafs draft-pick Vladimir Bobylev, among four Russian imports in the game, scored on the power play at 2:26 of the second period.
Flames prospect Phillips recorded his 28th goal at 19:35 of the second off a pass from behind the net by Dante Hannoun.
Victoria embarks on a four-game road swing beginning Tuesday in Vancouver and Thursday in Edmonton with further stops in Red Deer and Calgary.
