There was a weirdly bouncy sense of optimism in the Victoria Royals camp, unwarranted by the standings, heading into Friday night’s game against the Kamloops Blazers at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. After all, the Royals’ sudden first line of Tarun Fizer, Marcus Almquist and Evan Patrician didn’t even exist last Friday when the Blazers blitzed the Royals 7-1 in Kamloops.
But one week did not erode form. It more than held as the Blazers, the No. 5-ranked team in the CHL top-10 poll, moved to 10-1 with a 6-0 victory over the Royals, which fell to a Western Hockey League-worst 1-11-1.
Royals captain Fizer returned from a tryout with the Colorado Eagles of the professional AHL. Almquist, an 18-year-old Danish winger selected in the 2020 import draft, has joined the team. Twenty-year-old forward Patrician returned from injury. But it mattered little to the Blazers, who were too big, too strong and too fast in moving to 4-0 on the season against Victoria with a 24-6 goals advantage. Kamloops has won 12 consecutive games against Victoria dating to 2019.
New York Rangers prospect Dylan Garand of Langford, the projected starting goaltender for Canada in the 2022 world junior championship, recorded his ninth win of the season and made 22 saves for his second shutout of the season and 10th of his career. He made a few timely saves early when the score was still manageable for Victoria to halt any chance of the Royals gaining a glimmer of momentum. The happiest among the crowd of 2,669 were members of the Garand family and their friends.
“Give credit to Garand,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price. “He was 10 bells when it was 0-0, 1-0 and 2-0.”
The much busier Campbell Arnold started for the Royals in the crease and allowed six goals on 39 shots through two periods. Tyler Palmer played the third period and made 10 saves as Victoria was outshot 49-22.
Six players scored for Kamloops, including Dallas Stars second-round NHL draft pick Logan Stankoven. The Blazers’ power play was dangerous and went 2-6 while Victoria’s was 0-2.
“Special teams were a big variable in the game,” said Price.
“I’m not blaming the refs. Most of our penalties were stick penalties, so that means we have to move our feet more. I thought we did well five-on-five and can flip the script tomorrow night.”
The teams meet again tonight at the Memorial Centre on Military Appreciation Night, a fitting tribute in a Navy town.
ICE CHIPS: Defencemen Austin Zemlak of the Royals and Kaden Hammell of the Blazers, along with forward and Victoria-product Ty Halaburda of the Vancouver Giants, are among the 20 WHL Under-17 players selected for the Capital City Challenge against the Canadian women’s national team Nov. 26-Dec. 1 in Ottawa. The series is to help prepare the Canadian women for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
