The Royals fought back from 3 deficits to score 4 unanswered in the 3rd, for an 8-5 win over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes in Victoria Friday night.
The victory snaps a 3 game slide, ends a winless in 5 stretch on home ice and pulls them back into a tie for 3rd in the division with Kelowna.
Jamie Crooks and Kevin Sundher each had 4 point nights, Crooks with his second hat trick of the season. Sundher had 2 goals and 2 assists giving him 50 points on the year. Brandon Magee had the game winning goal on a 2 point effort, and Steven Hodges scored a short handed penalty shot marker to cap off the highest goal output of the season for Victoria.
Zane Jones scored the Teddy Bear Toss goal at 18:11 of the first period in front of the their 3rd sellout crowd of the year. Jones has now scored in four straight, and has 5 goals in his last 6 outings. Rookie Ben Walker’s assist on the play extends his point streak to 4 games.
Coach & GM of the Royals, Marc Habscheid comments after the win;
Keith Hamilton picked up his 12th win with 26 saves, while Liam Liston was lifted after allowing 6 goals on 23 shots, replaced by Damien Ketlo who stopped 2 of 3.
Both teams scored short handed and power play goals, Lethbridge one for seven, and Victoria one for 3. They’ll meet again next Friday night in Lethbridge.
The Royals trailed 2-0, went ahead 3-2, trailed 4-3 and 5-4 after 40 before 4 straight goals in the final frame. They were outshot 31-26 on the night.
Kevin Sundher talks with the media following the win;
Victoria plays in Kent versus Seattle Saturday night wrapping up 4 games in 5 nights. The Royals won their last meeting against the Thunderbirds 7-3 on home ice back on Oct 29th after falling 4-3 in a shoot out the night before. They lost in Seattle 5-4 back on Oct 8th.
They’ll swing up to Edmonton for a Wednesday night game, play in Lethbridge next Friday and Medicine Hat Saturday before the Christmas break.
BCIT Intern Dustin Forbes has been a huge help to the broadcast during his 3 weeks with the station, and has an in depth recap right here: www.thezone.fm/whl
Catch all the action on The Zone @ 91.3 FM
Play By Play Voice of the Victoria Royals on The Zone @ 91.3 FM
