The Victoria Royals earned a much needed point in a 5-4 overtime loss in Vancouver against the Giants Sunday night.
Hayden Rintoul scored with 22.2 seconds left to force overtime, but Jordan Martinook scored his 2nd of the game in the extra frame to give the Giants sole possession of 4th in the West.
Both teams played 3 games in 3 nights, with the Royals wrapping up 4 games in 5 with a record of (1-2-1-0) and 3 points.
Victoria remains in 8th with 51 points and have 2 games left. Seattle with 48 points is 9th, with 4 games remaining. The 10th place Cougars have 46 points with 3 left.
The Royals need a combination of 6 points derived from Victoria wins and / or Seattle losses to eliminate the Thunderbirds. They now need to two points in the same manner to eliminate the Cougars. (For the teams remaining schedule, scroll down)
Trailing 1-0 after 20 minutes, the Royals scored 3 in a row to take a 3-1 lead. The Giants cut the lead to 3-2 before the 2nd was over. Vancouver added 2 more in the third to retake the lead 4-3, before Rintoul’s dying seconds heroics.
Adam Morrison made 25 saves for his 35th victory as Jared Rathjen who made timely saves on Brendan Gallagher and Marek Tvrdon on a breakaway – stopped 34 in the overtime loss.
Victoria went 0 for 5 on the power play, while stopping all 3 Vancouver man advantages.
The Royals got a pair of goals from Brandon Magee, and singles from Hayden Rintoul (1g 1a), and Logan Nelson - who moves into 3rd in rookie scoring. Zane Jones had a pair of assists.
Jordan Martinook and Marek Tvrdon had a 2 goals and an assist each, with Tvrdon taking over the top spot in the rookie scoring race. Riley Kieser added a single for the Giants.
There were 3 fights in the game, two in the first. Logan Nelson landed the decision against Scott Cooke, while Austin Carroll took on Taylor Makin. In the 2nd, Tim Traber fought Wes Vannieuwenhuizen.
Victoria has two home games remaining, Wednesday and Friday against the Portland Winterhawks who are 2nd overall with 100 points.
Their game versus the Portland Winterhawks on March 14th is the Royals sixth sell-out of the season.
There is only one way left to get tickets to the game, and that is to get your hands on some of the limited number of $5 Mad Monday tickets. These hot tickets will be available Monday, March 12th at 9:30 a.m. at the Select Your Tickets Box Office at the SOFMC.
With 2 home games left and a capacity of 7006, the Royals have an opportunity to eclipse the 200,000 mark in total attendance this season. So far 189,746 spectactors have enjoyed the Royals games at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
7th - EVERETT 52 Points REMAINING: (3)
Mar. 14 at Kelowna
Mar. 16 at Tri-City
Mar. 17 at Seattle
8th - VICTORIA 51 Points REMAINING: (2)
Mar 14 vs Portland
Mar 16 vs Portland
9th - SEATTLE 48 Points REMAINING: (4)
Mar. 13 vs Spokane
Mar. 16 at Spokane
Mar. 17 vs Everett
Mar. 18 at Portland
10th - PRINCE GEORGE 46 Points REMAINING: (3)
Mar. 13 at Tri City
Mar. 16 at Kamloops
Mar. 17 vs Kamloops
Victoria Royals 4 at Vancouver Giants 5 (OT) - Status: Final OT
Sunday, March 11, 2012 - Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC
Victoria 0 3 1 0 - 4
Vancouver 1 1 2 1 - 5
1st Period-
1, Vancouver, Tvrdon 28 (Martinook, Gallagher), 11:58.
Penalties-Nelson Vic (major-fighting), 4:10; Cooke Van (major-fighting), 4:10; Stahl Vic (roughing), 4:41; Carroll Vic (major-fighting), 7:17; Makin Van (major-fighting), 7:17; Traber Vic (charging, roughing), 14:35; Martinook Van (roughing), 14:35; Cooke Van (interference), 17:04; Makin Van (roughing), 18:35.
2nd Period-
2, Victoria, Magee 22 (Jones, Rintoul), 1:37.
3, Victoria, Nelson 23 5:36.
4, Victoria, Magee 23 (Jones, Walker), 8:46.
5, Vancouver, Kieser 6 (Vanscourt, Burns), 14:32.
Penalties-Traber Vic (major-fighting), 0:45; Vannieuwenhuizen Van (major-fighting), 0:45; Rintoul Vic (roughing), 1:37; Vanscourt Van (roughing), 1:37; Tvrdon Van (interference), 10:05; Jones Vic (checking from behind), 11:26; Burns Van (slashing), 17:38.
3rd Period-
6, Vancouver, Tvrdon 29 0:56.
7, Vancouver, Martinook 36 (Bellerive, Orban), 5:03.
8, Victoria, Rintoul 17 (Fransoo, Hodges), 19:38.
Penalties-Stahl Vic (slashing), 13:30; Gallagher Van (roughing), 13:30; Musil Van (roughing), 15:16.
OT Period-
9, Vancouver, Martinook 37 (Tvrdon), 2:50.
Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-
Victoria 7-9-11-2-29.
Vancouver 18-12-7-2-39.
Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 0 / 5; Vancouver 0 / 3.
Goalies-
Victoria, Rathjen 3-9-2-0 (39 shots-34 saves).
Vancouver, Morrison 35-17-2-1 (29 shots-25 saves).
A-6,983
Referees-Chris Crich (80), Pat Smith (12).
Linesmen-Ron Dietterle (121), Tim Digby (75).
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