VICTORIA 6
PORTLAND 5
A combined total of 14 Victoria Royals (five) and Portland Winterhawks (nine) players skated in NHL training camps this fall. Alex Forsberg wasn’t among them. But the opening-weekend stage in the WHL belonged to the 20-year-old Royals forward.
Forsberg’s two goals and two assists paced Victoria to a 6-5 victory over the Winterhawks on Saturday night before 4,699 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. That followed his three-assist performance in the season-opening 4-1 Royals victory over Portland on Friday for a league-leading seven points.
It’s ridiculously early to be looking at points leaders, but that doesn’t take away from Forsberg’s boffo first weekend.
“It’s nice to have a hot start. I usually have slow starts,” said the over-ager, a former No. 1 overall WHL bantam draft pick for Prince George.
The entire Victoria first line terrorized Portland, with Vladimir Bobylev scoring twice Saturday and he has three on the season. Jack Walker added three assists last night. The line combined for 16 points in the two games.
“[Bobylev] is a smart player and is taking advantage of playing with good players [Forsberg and Walker],” said Royals coach Dave Lowry.
“He told me he would be abetter player if he played with good players. I kept my end of the bargain.”
And Bobylev kept his on the opening weekend.
“I was on the fourth line last season [with the Vancouver Giants] and that was tough for me,” said the Russian, dropped by the Giants and picked up by the Royals in the 2015 CHL import draft.
“This is much better. I have good linemates. We play well together and make good passes,” added Bobylev, in serviceable English.
The Winterhawks, one of the great WHL franchises, have carved a niche in a market dominated by University of Oregon Ducks football and the Trail Blazers of the NBA.
The ’Hawks, Western Conference finalists last season, are thought to have stepped down a level from their four consecutive conference championships from 2011 to 2014. But that doesn’t take away from a youthful Victoria team’s achievement in the sweep, especially since it is in a rebuilding season.
The Winterhawks, however, were missing goaltender and third-round Arizona Coyotes NHL draft pick Adin Hill, injured in warm-up Friday. And it showed. Michael Bullion made 22 saves for Portland. Coleman Vollrath stopped 27 shots for Victoria.
A Regan Nagy deflection of a Chaz Reddekopp point shot was the winner, making it 6-4 for Victoria just 13 seconds into the third period.
Emerging defenceman Caleb Jones, brother of NHLer and former Winterhawks star Seth Jones, scored his first WHL goal at 8:40 of the second period to put Portland ahead 3-2. The younger Jones is a Winterhawks rookie drafted out of the U.S. Under-18 team in the 2015 NHL draft by the Edmonton Oilers.
But in a blueline tit for tat, Victoria rearguard Ralph Jarratt tattooed a shot to the Portland net to make it 3-3 and the Royals never looked back, even though the game ended with the Winterhawks pressing hard and Jarratt having to clear a puck off the line midway through the third.
Victoria meets Kamloops on Blanshard next Friday and Saturday.
