PRINCE GEORGE 5 VICTORIA 3
The Victoria Royals are up north. But if things go south for the Royals on the season, they will look back on their games against the Prince George Cougars as being part of the reason.
The Cougars recorded their sixth victory over Victoria, following up their five consecutive wins in October, with a 5-3 decision Tuesday night before 1,422 fans at CN Centre.
Prince George (16-17-2) has five players ranked by Central Scouting for the 2022 NHL draft, which is second in the Western Hockey League only to the Swift Current Broncos’ six ranked players. Prince George hasn’t played like it yet, other than their games against the Royals. But some of that prospective Cougars talent, the result of selecting highly in the first round of the WHL Under-15 prospects draft because of Prince George’s lowly placings in the standings the past few years, might finally be breaking through. The Cougars won their third consecutive game after sweeping the Vancouver Giants in their previous two games.
The Royals (12-17-4), meanwhile, lost their fourth consecutive game after dropping three straight to the Rockets in Kelowna and are now only two points ahead of the ninth-place Tri-City Americans in the race for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference.
Campbell Arnold, returning to the Victoria net after missing two games to injury, allowed two goals in the first five minutes en route to Prince George building a 5-0 lead into the second period with Koehn Ziemmer and captain Jonny Hooker scoring twice each. Victoria blueliner Gannon Laroque, a fourth-round 2021 NHL draft pick of the San Jose Sharks, scored on the power play and Royals forward Anthony Wilson also counted before the second buzzer sounded. Luke Shipley closed out scoring with 18 seconds remaining in the third period to make things at least respectable for Victoria.
The Cougars were deadly on the power play at 3-6 while Victoria went 1-4.
“We looked flat and tired in the first half of the game and a lot of that had to do with us taking the first four penalties of the game, which tilted the ice a bit,” said Royals coach Dan Price. “We got the next four power plays in a row after that and looked more like ourselves in the second half of the game, which gives us momentum heading into [tonight].”
Arnold made 21 saves for Victoria while Tyler Brennan, the top-ranked North American goaltender for the 2022 NHL draft, made 17 saves for Prince George.
Victoria was again short-staffed due to injuries, including captain Tarun Fizer and Swiss U-20 international Keanu Derungs.
The Royals and Cougars meet again tonight at 7 in Prince George. The Royals return to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre to meet Vancouver and Everett on Friday and Saturday.
