Chaz Reddekopp, who knew?
The 16-year-old Victoria Royals defenceman from West Kelowna caused a stir in front of what was an announced crowd of 4,000 (which was more like less than 3,000) at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Saturday night’s 3-1 win over Red Deer.
Reddekopp threw a couple of haymakers in a third-period fight with Wyatt Johnson as the game got slightly out of hand. It was one of three skirmishes in a penalty-filled affair in which the Royals, up 3-0 in the second, lost some composure.
Not something you want to see, particularly in a young club.
The Royals gave up far too many power-play opportunities, including a stretch of four straight in the second, but the penalty killing got it done, again.
It was an impressive performance, that still needs some ironing out.
“Our penalty killing has been exceptional and tonight it was put in a spot where we had to over-work our guys,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry, who wasn’t pleased with the trips to the penalty box.
“That is something that we’ve talked about. We were in control after the first period, we got drawn into the game after the whistle,” he added.
“We’ve taken really good steps this year and we’ve played whistle to whistle. We’ve been a very efficient team that way. Tonight we got pulled into that game we’re not supposed to be playing.”
The Royals were in full control with two first-period power-play goals by Austin Carroll and Logan Nelson, on assists to Steven Hodges.
Their big guns were being their big guns.
Tyler Soy made it 3-0, but it came during that stretch of trips to the sin bin that could have cost the Royals dearly.
Cole Chorney did bag a power-play goal for the Rebels in the last minute of the second and then Hodges was tagged with a double-minor for butt ending right at the buzzer.
A couple of fights flared up in the last five minutes as the Rebels were a frustrated lot, feeling they were taking unwarranted runs by the Royals.
That’s when Reddekopp, a raw rookie, went into beast mode, followed 18 seconds later by Victoria’s Luke Harrison and Conner Bleackley in a second fight.
Carroll also went toe-to-toe with Devan Fafard in the last minute of the second as the Royals’ forward collected the Gordie Howe hat-trick (goal, assist and fight).
Patrik Polivka was solid in net and the Royals solved Patrik Bartosak, who made 42 saves the night previous in a 2-1 Red Deer win.
An especially good win for Lowry over his former NHL boss Brent Sutter. The two worked together for three years with the Calgary Flames, Lowry at Sutter’s side, and they remain close friends.
“You must be happy?” a cameraman said afterward.
“I’m always happy, you guys know that,” Lowry said with a straight face, before cracking a slight chuckle.
The team will need a similar performance come Wednesday against the Edmonton Oil Kings, minus the parade to the penalty box.
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Sidney native Alex Anthony made his Canadian Football League debut on Saturday afternoon for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Anthony, a Mount Douglas grad who went on to play at Wilfrid Laurier University, had two catches for just 13 yards late in the 30-26 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos.
It was a meaningless affair, standings wise, for the Riders who could not move up or down from second place in the West Division.
Anthony came off the practice roster to get into his first-ever CFL outing.
He’ll likely go back on for next weekend’s semifinal against the visiting B.C. Lions as the 22-year-old rookie begins to work his way into a regular spot.
