With apologies to Dinah Washington, but what a difference a season makes.
The defending WHL champion Swift Current Broncos, who lost 14 players and their coaching staff from their 2017-18 titlist team, fell to 1-9 following a 5-2 loss Wednesday night to the Victoria Royals before 3,201 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Royals, who this week retained their No. 4 ranking in the national CHL top-10 poll, moved to 8-1 as they held the Broncos to just 12 shots on goal. That was a Royals franchise record, eclipsing the old mark of 13 shots allowed.
The Broncos gave goaltender Joel Hofer a richly deserved night off. The fourth-round St. Louis Blues draft pick faced an exhausting total of 126 shots in the Broncos’ previous two games — 55 in a 3-2 overtime victory against Brandon and a Vancouver franchise-record 71 on Tuesday in a 6-2 loss to the Giants.
Isaac Poulter faced 35 Victoria shots while Royals rookie netminder Brock Gould, who was a teammate last season of Poulter in Midget in Winnipeg, needed only 10 saves for his first career WHL victory. Gould, however, was beaten on just his second career WHL shot as Finnish import Joona Kiviniemi scored his first career WHL goal.
But the Broncos could not contend with power-play goals from Kaid Oliver on a three-point game, and Dante Hannoun on a four-point night, as Victoria went 2-2 on the odd-man in the first period before cooling off to 2-7 overall. Oliver, who had six goals in 64 games last season, has matched that total in nine games this season.
Victoria’s other goals came from Brandon Cutler, D-Jay Jerome and hometown-product Tanner Sidaway, with his first as a Royal. The Broncos, who feature forward Quinton Waitzner from Victoria, got their second goal from Owen Blocker.
The Royals host the B.C. Division rival Kelowna Rockets on Friday and Saturday.
ICE CHIPS: Victoria defenceman Scott Walford, a third-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, was named Wednesday to the WHL team for its two-game set against the Russian junior team Nov. 5 in Kamloops and Nov. 6 in Vancouver.
