VICTORIA 4 KELOWNA 1
There were plenty of reasons for the Victoria Royals, before their game Wednesday against the Kelowna Rockets, to look at the form charts and gasp.
The weekly BMO Canadian Hockey League top-10 rankings came out earlier in the day showing the Rockets at No. 3 — the top Western Hockey League team cited. The WHL standings showed the Rockets on a nine-game winning streak and boasting the best winning percentage in the league.
But the Royals (15-10-1) defied the pre-game indicators by scoring three unanswered third-period goals for a 4-1 victory over the Rockets (16-3-2) at Prospera Place in the Okanagan city.
Before the contest, Royals GM Cam Hope had labelled it as one of those “measuring-stick games.”
He must have liked this tale of the tape.
Maybe it shouldn’t be considered that much of an upset as Victoria is 5-1 in its last six games.
It probably didn’t help the Rockets that they played in Seattle on Tuesday evening, beating the Thunderbirds 4-3 in a shootout, before having to hurry home overnight.
“On any given night, anybody can beat anybody,” said Victoria head coach Dave Lowry. “There’s a lot of parity in this league and especially in this [Western] conference.”
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The winner came on the power play at 6:44 of the third period when a centering pass glanced in off the skate of Austin Carroll for the power forward’s 11th goal of the season. Ben Walker cut to the net on a single-player rush to make it 3-1 at 12:09. Victoria scored its second power-play goal of the period with Brandon Fushimi redirecting a Brandon Magee cross into the net at 15:01 for his ninth goal of the campaign.
Both Victoria power-play goals came with Carroll and Fushimi crowding the crease area.
“It was a matter of getting pucks to the net,” said Lowry. “We’ve been playing outside a bit [on the power play], but tonight we got it inside.”
At the other end, Victoria’s always-tough penalty-kill unit held Kelowna to 0-5, including two situations that involved stretches of two-man advantages for the Rockets.
“Special teams were the difference in the game,” said Lowry.
“Our penalty kill allowed us to weather some storms in the first two periods and we kept it close.”
For the second night in a row, following the 2-1 Victoria victory in Kamloops on Tuesday, Royals goaltender Patrik Polivka was named the first star. That’s quite a reverse in fortunes for the import from the Czech Republic, who watched the previous four games before Tuesday from the bench as goaltending partner Coleman Vollrath turned in some starry displays.
The Victoria goaltending situation looks to be one of the intriguing story lines as the season progresses.
“It’s not a problem … the competition between the two guys is good,” said Lowry.
The puck snuck through Kelowna goaltender Jordon Cooke’s pads as rookie Tyler Soy’s sixth goal of the season gave Victoria the early lead less than three minutes into the game. That held until Tyson Baillie’s quick-release shot surprised Polivka on the short side to pull Kelowna level at 5:47 of the second period. That’s the only thing that waylaid Polivka, as he finished with 26 saves to just 15 for Cooke.
The Royals now return to the Island to host the Kamloops Blazers on Friday and Saturday.
