The Victoria Royals (2-3-2-0) wrapped up the preseason on high note with a 3-2 win over the Rockets in Kelowna (2-4) Saturday night.
The Royals overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a 3 goal, 2nd period, including a pair of power play goals.
“Despite getting down by a couple, we found a way.” – said Head coach Dave Lowry, “I really like the way that we were able to get our game back in and really start to compete…”
Coleman Vollrath earned the victory with 21 saves while his counterpart, rookie Jake Morrisey allowed 3 of 19 shots in the loss.
The Royals got back in the win column after being shut out at home by the Giants Thursday night.
“I thought we responded a lot better than we did on Thursday and that’s something that we talked about, regardless of our line up…”
The Rockets dressed a more veteran line up including three 20 year olds, while the Royals were missing all their overagers to NHL Camps, 6 in total. They dressed 12 regulars and 7 newcomers.
Victoria got goals from 16 year olds Jared Dmytriw and Matthew Campese, while 17 year old Tyler Soy picked up a goal and assist including the winner.
“It was unlucky to get those two goals against us right away, but we’re a tough team, we battled back and got better as the game went along.” said Soy
17 year old Forward Regan Nagy dropped the mitts with Kelowna defenseman Jesse Lees in a spirited affair.
“Not bad for the first one (fight) of the year…” grinned Nagy who looks to crack the roster this season as a strong two-way player.
“I just try to come to the rink and work my hardest, even for practice…and try to prove that I’m ready for the league and can handle myself out there.”
The animosity has definitely picked up between the two clubs.
“We know that every time we play them, we have to be emotionally dialed in, and we have to be ready to compete.” Said Lowry “…Kelowna is team that we want to get to where they are. They were the top team, not only in our league, but in our country for a good portion of last season.”
Victoria picked up wins in two of their final three exhibition games ending with a record of 2-3-2-0.
“We ended on a strong note,” said Soy, “…Which is good for us going into (next weekend)…hopefully we can roll this into the regular season.”
Victoria opens their 4th campaign on the road this Friday in Kamloops and Saturday in Vancouver, with their first home game Friday Sept. 26th against the Blazers.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do…” said Lowry about what lies ahead this week.
“We’re going to prepare like this line up tonight, is the line up that we’ll start next weekend with, and we better be sure we’re all dialed in and we all understand what are roles and responsibilities will be.”
- Marlon Martens
Victoria, Vollrath 1-1-1-0 (23 shots-21 saves).
Kelowna, Morrissey 0-2-0-0 (19 shots-16 saves).
Victoria Royals 3 at Kelowna Rockets 2 - Status: Final
Saturday, September 13, 2014 - Prospera Place - Kelowna, BC
Victoria 0 3 0 - 3
Kelowna 2 0 0 - 2
1st Period-
1, Kelowna, Schmidli 1 (Merkley, Johansen), 0:32.
2, Kelowna, Heffley 3 (Lees, Chizen), 2:18.
Penalties-Gagnon Vic (charging), 2:26; Chizen Kel (hooking), 6:31; Kohlhauser Vic (elbowing), 15:14.
2nd Period-
3, Victoria, Dmytriw 3 (Fushimi), 4:09.
4, Victoria, Campese 2 (Soy, Reddekopp), 12:41 (PP).
5, Victoria, Soy 2 (Hannoun), 19:04 (PP).
Penalties-Campese Vic (hooking), 0:55; Lees Kel (interference), 12:17; Merkley Kel (cross checking), 12:54; Martin Kel (holding), 18:04.
3rd Period-
No Scoring.
Penalties-Gagnon Vic (elbowing), 0:26; Merkley Kel (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 0:26; Nagy Vic (major-fighting, game misconduct), 6:26; Lees Kel (slashing, major-fighting, game misconduct), 6:26; Reddekopp Vic (elbowing), 15:11; Crunk Vic (cross checking), 19:34.
Shots on Goal-
Victoria 4-9-6-19.
Kelowna 6-9-8-23.
Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 2 / 5;
Kelowna 0 / 5.
Goalies-
Victoria, Vollrath 1-1-1-0 (23 shots-21 saves).
Kelowna, Morrissey 0-2-0-0 (19 shots-16 saves).
A-2,808
Referees-Kyle Kowalski (15), Fraser Lawrence (10).
Linesmen-Dave McMahon, Ward Pateman (124).
ROYALS DOWN ROCKETS
Victoria rallies from two goals behind in 3-2 win over Kelowna.
For Immediate Release
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Kelowna, BC- The Victoria Royals erased a two goal deficit to edge the Kelowna Rockets 3-2 on Saturday night at Prospera Place in the teams’ final game of the 2014 WHL Pre-Season.
Victoria once again dressed a mix of regulars (12) and rookies (7) in their line-up. Veteran goaltender Coleman Vollrath made his second consecutive start of the pre-season for the Royals, while the Rockets started Jake Morrissey in net.
The Rockets led 2-0 thru one period of play on goals by winger’s Kris Schmidli and Colton Heffley. Kelowna would hold the lead until Victoria found the back of the net three times in the middle frame to round out the scoring. Tyler Soy scored the winning goal, with the other markers coming from rookies’ Jared Dmytriw and Matthew Campese.
Royals’ netminder Vollrath stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced for the win. Goaltender Morrissey turned away 16 of 19 shots for the Rockets.
Victoria went 2/5=40.0%, with the extra attacker while Kelowna went 0/5=0.0%
Victoria scratched 20-year-olds Travis Brown, Brandon Magee, and Austin Carroll along with regulars Keegan Kanzig, Joe Hicketts and Axel Blomqvist who were all away attending NHL Rookie camps.
The Royals open the 2014-15 WHL Regular Season on the road with contest’s vs. the Kamloops Blazers on Friday September 19th and the Vancouver Giants on Saturday September 20th. Puck drop for both games is at 7:00 p.m.
The Royals kick-off their 2014-15 home schedule with a Friday night clash versus the Kamloops Blazers on September 26th. Interested in joining our Royal Family? Royals season ticket packages start at just $414 and offer a host of fantastic benefits including early entrance to home games, savings at the Royals team store, monthly e-newsletters, and first right of refusal on the same seats for the play-offs. Get the full details at www.victoriaroyals.com or by calling 250-220-7889.
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