VICTORIA 6 RED DEER 5 (OT)
If the Victoria Royals were a store, they might well be named Rallies R Us.
The Royals, trailing 4-0 in the first period, rebounded for a 6-5 Western Hockey League victory Tuesday night over the Rebels in Red Deer, Alta. It was Victoria’s second come-from-behind victory in three games after rallying from a 2-0 third-period deficit Friday to defeat the Hitmen 3-2 in Calgary.
“They had the fear of the Four Mountains [a hard-skating practice following a bad defeat] hanging over their heads,” quipped Victoria head coach Dave Lowry.
Tyler Soy’s third goal of the season, on a pass from defenceman Travis Brown, won it for Victoria (4-5-1) at 1:09 of overtime. Axel Blomqvist, a prospect for the Swedish national team for the 2015 world junior championship, tied it 5-5 for the Royals with 57 seconds remaining in regulation time.
Lowry said the turning point was when Victoria forward Taylor Crunk, with his team behind 4-0, engaged Red Deer’s Meyer Nell in a heavyweight fight in which both players landed punch after punch.
“[Crunk] was willing to go out and do that, with the team losing 4-0, and our group rallied around it,” said Lowry.
Victoria starting goalie Coleman Vollrath allowed goals by Adam Musil, Scott Feser and Wyatt Johnson on 10 Red Deer shots in the first 10 minutes. The result was that for the third time this season, Vollrath was chased from the net and replaced by Evan Smith.
The Rebels (3-5-1) made it 4-0 as Grayson Pawlenchuk beat Smith at 15:46 of the first period.
The Royals then began to lay on the body. That had an effect on the scoreboard as they began chipping away at the Red Deer lead. Forward Brandon Fushimi, returning to the lineup after missing five games due to a lower-body injury, scored Victoria’s first short-handed goal of the season with a deft shot to the top corner on a breakaway at 14:48 of the second period.
Goals early in the third period by Austin Carroll, on the power play, and Matthew Campese brought Victoria to within 4-3. Carroll added two assists and has seven goals and 13 points in eight games since being sent back from the NHL’s Calgary Flames.
Jack Walker tied it 4-4 on the power play at 11:03. The Minnesota product added an assist to give him eight points in his last five games. Defenceman Austin Strand gave Red Deer a 5-4 lead at 12:32.
Defenceman Joe Hicketts had three assists for Victoria. Among those playing a hard-hitting game was 17-year-old, six-foot-two Russian-import Marsel Ibragimov, making his Royals debut on the blue-line after being claimed off waivers.
The contest was the mid-way point of Victoria’s six-game road trip. It continues tonight in Edmonton against the defending Memorial Cup champion Oil Kings.
