VICTORIA 4
VANCOUVER 3
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, the old saying goes.
And the Victoria Royals did just that Saturday night in front of 5,860 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The Royals ran into a hot goaltender in Vancouver Giants rookie Trent Miner and, despite not scoring on any of their first 27 shots — including a first-period penalty shot by captain Matthew Phillips — the Royals didn’t quit and eventually pulled out a 4-3 victory over their B.C. Division rivals, but just barely.
After giving up the tying goal to Giants super-sniper Ty Ronning on a power play with just 36 seconds left in regulation, Royals winger Dino Kambeitz pounced on a loose puck at the visitor’s blue line and skated in a beat Miner with just 10 seconds remaining, sending the fans and his teammates home happy.
“That was something, wasn’t it?” Royals head coach Dan Price said after watching his team improve to 35-21-3-2 and move five points clear of the Giants in the race for second in the division.
“Dramatic at the end for both teams. We would have rather finished a few more chances earlier, but Vancouver’s a team that just keeps coming at you and doesn’t quit no matter what the score.”
Miner, who just turned 17 last week, was making his first road start of the season after going 1-0 in three appearances this season. His success doesn’t surprise the Giants, who decided to give No. 1 man David Tendeck the night off in a key game in the race for the B.C. Division regular-season crown. Miner, a second-round bantam pick three years ago who played major midget in Manitoba last season, came into Saturday with a 2.54 goals-against average and an already impressive .929 save percentage.
He kept his banged-up team in it until the end. The Giants were minus several players to injury, including top defencemen Dylan Plouffe and Matt Barberis, as well as star centre Milos Roman.
But when you have a veteran sniper like Ronning, a New York Rangers draft pick, the Giants are never out of it. Ronning scored two on the night to bring his goal total to 54. It was Kambeitz who finally solved Miner 12 minutes into the second period. Tyler Soy scored twice and Phillips chipped in three assists to bring his season point total to 99. “We felt like we were doing some good things early so it was just matter of sticking with it and the guys were rewarded,” said Price.
Griffen Outhouse returned to the Royals net after missing two games due to injury. The veteran made 24 saves, while Miner finished with 38 stops. “We knew Miner was a good goalie, so we knew we would have to get some traffic in front of him and we did a good job of that in the second and third periods,” said Price.
The Royals host the Portland Winterhawks next Friday and Saturday at the Memorial Centre.
