Wednesday 1 February 2012

Recap: PG 1 - VIC 5

#10 Ben Walker (2g 1a)
The Victoria Royals powered past the visiting Prince George Cougars 5-1 Wednesday night to earn a split in the 2 game home set. 

Keith Hamilton earned his 16th win with 20 stops, including robbing Greg Fraser on a 2 on 1 in the second, and stoning Carson Bolduc on a breakaway in the third.  Drew Owsley suffered his 27th defeat with 27 saves.

After Chase Witala opened the scoring on the Cougars first shot 3:45 into the first, Ben Walker would tie it with his 5th at 11:16.

In the middle frame, Walker would add his second of the night flipping it past Owsley for his 6th and a 2-1 lead.  The Royals would then capitalize twice on a 5 on 3 power play, with goals from Jamie Crooks (27th) and Dakota Conroy (7th) and earn a 4-1 lead heading into the final frame.

Steven Hodges tipped in his 15th at the 1:22 mark of the third as the Royals went on to out shoot the Cougars 32-21.

Victoria’s power play went 2 for 5, while holding Prince George scoreless on four attempts.

Brandon Magee chipped in with 3 assists.

Assistant Coach of the Royals Craig Didmon commented after the game:
 
Jamie Crooks' hit on Jarett Fontaine.
Victoria now leads the season series 3 games to 1, and will meet again for a pair in the Capital February 17th and 18th.

The win moves the Royals into 7th place in the West, one point up on Seattle and 5 ahead of the 9th place Cougars.  
 
Up next a U-S road trip with stops in Spokane Friday and Tri Cities on Saturday. 

The Royals next home game will be next Tuesday and Wednesday against the Everett Silvertips.

Prince George 1 0 0 - 1
Victoria 1 3 1 - 5

1st Period-
1, Prince George, Witala 3 (Fraser, Blidstrand), 3:45.
2, Victoria, Walker 5 (Fransoo, Magee), 11:16.

Penalties-Soudek Vic (roughing), 17:49.

2nd Period-
3, Victoria, Walker 6 (Soudek, Magee), 2:47.
4, Victoria, Crooks 27 (Rintoul, Magee), 14:07 (PP).
5, Victoria, Conroy 6 (Walker, Cote), 14:59 (PP).

Penalties-Soudek Vic (tripping), 0:13; Siwak P.g (tripping), 13:07; Asuchak P.g (cross checking), 13:26.

3rd Period-
6, Victoria, Hodges 15 (Habscheid, Nelson), 1:20.

Penalties-Bourke P.g (tripping), 3:30; Bourke P.g (checking from behind), 6:25; Carlson P.g (roughing), 6:25; Habscheid Vic (roughing), 6:25; Forsberg P.g (roughing, roughing), 8:43; Crooks Vic (roughing), 8:43; Asuchak P.g (holding), 10:05; Fransoo Vic (roughing), 10:05; Conroy Vic (slashing), 10:53; Habscheid Vic (hooking), 12:27; Carlson P.g (roughing), 20:00; Carroll Vic (roughing), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-
Prince George 9-6-6-21.
Victoria 11-10-11-32.

Power Play Opportunities-
Prince George 0 / 4;
Victoria 2 / 5.

Goalies-
Prince George, Owsley 15-27-0-1 (32 shots-27 saves).
Victoria, Hamilton 16-25-1-3 (21 shots-20 saves).

A-4,369

Referees-Pat Smith (12).
Linesmen-Chris Carlson (92), Kiel Murchison (46).

Stars-
1) Walker
2) Crooks
3) Hodges