Saturday 7 January 2012

Recap: KEL 4 - VIC 3 SO


Brett Bulmer stopped by Keith Hamilton
Zach Franko had the lone shoout out goal to push the Kelowna Rockets (19-19-2-3) past the Royals (13-24-2-3) in Victoria 4-3 Saturday night.
The 6th place Rockets defeated the Royals 5-2 the night before, with the Royals still holding an edge in the season series (4-2-0-1).  They’ll face for a final time March 9th in Kelowna.

The 8th place Royals have 3 points in a 9 game winless stretch, and are 3 points up on the Cougars – a team they still face 6 more times.

According to assistant coach of the Royals Craig Didmon:

We can be happy we got a point…certainly the boys are dejected as they wanted a win for the home crowd before they head out east.  As the coaching staff though, we were happy with the effort and thought maybe the hockey gods weren’t on our side tonight…

After a scoreless first, Victoria built up leads of 1-0, and 2-1 on power play goals by Hayden Rintoul (1g 1a) and Brandon Magee (1g).  Carter Rigby (1g 1a) sandwiched in a short handed tally.  Kelowna tied it up before the second was out on Myles Bell’s (1g) 3rd goal in 2 games, also with the man advantage. 

After Zane Jones got 5 and a game for boarding on Mackenzie Johnston, the major power play carried into the third and just 45 seconds in Brett Bulmer scored his first of the weekend to give Kelowna their first lead 3-2.

 All five goals to this point came on special teams, that is until Zach Habscheid unleashed a point shot that was tipped by Mike Forsyth, his first to tie the game at 3. Kevin Sundher was denied by Jordon Cooke on a breakaway and forced overtime which solved nothing, although Keith Hamilton was forced to make 3 big stops.

Zach Franko now has 4 goals in 5 shoot out attempts. Robin Soudek, Logan Nelson and Brandon Magee for the Royals all missed in the shoot out, while Myles Bell was unable to convert for the Rockets. Kevin Sundher was unable to shoot as he took a head butting penalty at the end of overtime.

Jordon Cooke mad 21 saves for his 4th victory, Keith Hamilton stopped 29 for his 20th defeat of the season.  Royals score twice on 6 power play attempts while giving up their 9 short handed goal against, Kelowna goes 2 for 4.  The Royals were outshot 35 - 26 on the night.

The thoughts of assistant coach Craig Didmon of the Victoria after the game:
 

Kevin Sundher extends his career high point streak to 12 games (4g 15a), and his 64 points places him 6th in league scoring.  Jamie Crooks (2a) continues to pile up the numbers with a 4 point weekend, pushing his point streak to 5 games (4g 6a).  Hayden Rintoul (1g 1a) had the other multiple point game for Victoria and now has a league leading 10 power play goals by a defenseman.

Victoria now heads out to face each eastern division team on a 6 game in 9 night journey beginning Friday in Regina against the Pats.

Kelowna Rockets 4 (SO) at Victoria Royals 3 - Status: Final SO
Saturday, January 7, 2012 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC

Kelowna 0 2 1 0 - 4
Victoria 0 2 1 0 - 3

1st Period-
No Scoring.

Penalties-Bell Kel (roughing), 7:37; Hodges Vic (roughing), 7:37; Pilton Vic (boarding), 15:04; Chikie Kel (inter. on goaltender), 19:50.

2nd Period-
1, Victoria, Magee 11 (Rintoul, Crooks), 0:24 (PP).
2, Kelowna, Rigby 12 (McColgan, Martin), 4:36 (SH).
3, Victoria, Rintoul 11 (Crooks, Sundher), 5:28 (PP).
4, Kelowna, Bell 8 (McColgan, Sissons), 13:56 (PP).

Penalties-Moar Kel (elbowing), 3:36; Johnston Kel (interference), 4:48; Franko Kel (tripping), 10:15; Jones Vic (interference), 12:13; Jones Vic (major-boarding, game misconduct), 16:26.

3rd Period-
5, Kelowna, Bulmer 18 (Sissons, Rigby), 0:45 (PP).
6, Victoria, Forsyth 1 (Habscheid, Traber), 10:41.

Penalties-Rigby Kel (hooking), 6:12; Chapman Kel (delay of game), 7:53; McColgan Kel (roughing), 20:00; Sundher Vic (roughing), 20:00.

OT Period-
No Scoring.

Penalties-Sundher Vic (head butting, head butting, 10-minute misconduct), 5:00.

Shootout –

Kelowna 1 (Franko G, Bell NG), Victoria 0 (Soudek NG, Nelson NG, Magee NG).

Shots on Goal-
Kelowna 11-12-9-3-1-36.
Victoria 7-13-4-2-0-26.

Power Play Opportunities-
Kelowna 2 / 4;
Victoria 2 / 6.

Goalies-
Kelowna, Cooke 4-3-2-2 (26 shots-23 saves).
Victoria, Hamilton 12-19-1-3 (35 shots-32 saves).

A-6,355

Referees-Matt Kirk (4).
Linesmen-Justin Hull (49), Kirk Van Helvoirt (107).