The Kamloops Blazers (3-0-0-1) scored once each period, while Cole Cheveldave stopped all 22 shots for a 3-0 shut out victory over the Victoria Royals (3-1) on the Island Sunday afternoon.
“They came out strong, came out well, and we didn’t seem to have the legs to match it.” said Royals assistant Coach Geoff Grimwood.
The Blazers earned a split after the Royals edged them 4-3 in a shoot out Friday night. They’ll meet again in the interior October 10th.
Kamloops out shot Victoria 39 –22 as Jared Rathjen was busy making 36 saves in his regular season debut. “I thought he was very good, basically held them to two goals through most of the game…they have a pretty high powered offense, so I thought it was a commendable effort on his part.” praised Grimwood.
Brady Gaudet scored in the first, Rob Trzonkowski on a breakaway in the second and Colorado Avalanche draft pick forward Colin Smith rounded out the scoring in the third.
Both teams power play went 0 for 5.
Grimwood did find some positives to take from the loss, “We started the game with a very physical strong forecheck, and it was something we maybe couldn’t continue over sixty minutes, but a good element to our game that I liked for sure.”
Victoria had overage defenseman Tyler Stahl back in the line up after serving a 6 game suspension, but were without Florida draft pick, forward Steven Hodges who is listed day to day with a lower body injury.
The loss ends their three game win streak to start the season, the longest ever in the franchise’s seven year history.
The Royals wrap up a 4 game homestand against the 3-1 Tigers from Medicine Hat on Wednesday, who boast 49 goal man Hunter Shinkaruk and are riding a 3 game win streak.
“We just have to get back to our style of hockey,” said Grimwood on their next game, “Any time you have a loss like this you want to rebound and it’s nice we don’t have to wait a whole week to do it…should be a good opportunity to bounce back.”
Kamloops Blazers 3 at Victoria Royals 0 - Status: Final
Sunday, September 30, 2012 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC
Kamloops 1 1 1 - 3
Victoria 0 0 0 - 0
1st Period-
1, Kamloops, Gaudet 1 (Souto, Needham), 15:38.
Penalties-Gogolev Vic (hooking), 0:58; Ully Kam (roughing), 2:51; Walker Vic (tripping), 7:26; Gaudet Kam (hooking), 17:18; Nelson Vic (interference), 18:17; Thomson Kam (tripping), 18:52; Crooks Vic (tripping), 19:35.
2nd Period-
2, Kamloops, Trzonkowski 1 (Macklin, Cheveldave), 3:38.
Penalties-Stahl Vic (tripping), 1:13; Crunk Vic (inter. on goaltender), 14:01; Smith Kam (roughing), 18:42; Zgraggen Vic (roughing), 18:42.
3rd Period-
3, Kamloops, Smith 2 (Thomson, Lipon), 10:13.
Penalties-Gelsinger Kam (hooking), 6:49; Gaudet Kam (closing hand on puck), 14:31.
Shots on Goal-
Kamloops 16-16-7-39.
Victoria 13-6-3-22.
Power Play Opportunities-
Kamloops 0 / 5;
Victoria 0 / 5.
Goalies-
Kamloops, Cheveldave 1-0-0-0 (22 shots-22 saves).
Victoria, Rathjen 0-1-0-0 (39 shots-36 saves).
A-4,171
Referees-Jason Cramer (57), Sean Raphael (28).
Linesmen-Clayton Richardson (104), Nathan Van Oosten (115).
Play By Play Voice of the Victoria Royals on The Zone @ 91.3 FM
