Ryan Hanes scored twice including the eventual game winner as the visiting Prince George Cougars edged the Victoria Royals 5-4 Friday night.
“The first few shifts of the game we were pretty good, then we seemed to get into a bit of a lull, allowed all those goals and it was tough to come back.” Royals Assistant Coach Enio Sacilotto.
The Cougars take game one of back to back games against the Royals in their first of 8 season meetings.
Victoria opened the scoring but trailed 3-1 after 20 minutes, and 5-3 after 40. The Royals added the only goal in the third with a big push and 12 –7 shot advantage but fell short.
“We gave it a push in the third period, hopefully we can carry that momentum into tomorrow night and get it going again.” commented Sacilotto.
Mac Engel earned his 4th win with a 20 save performance for Prince George. Patrik Polivka got the start for the Royals allowing 4 goals on 15 shots, replaced early in the 2nd period by Coleman Vollrath who stopped 8 of 9.
Victoria got goals from Steven Hodges (6th), Jamie Crooks team leading 12th, Ben Walker’s 8th (1g 1a), and Brandon Magee his 11th. Jordan Fransoo had 2 assists in the loss.
Prince George had a pair of goals each from Brett Roulston and Ryan Hanes, with Colin Jacobs tallying a single. Alex Forsberg had 3 assists while Zach Pochiro and Joseph Carvalho had a pair of helpers each.
The Cougars power play went 2 for 6, the Royals 1 for 4.
Victoria played without Captain Tyler Stahl who is serving a 2 game suspension for a check from behind in the game against Saskatoon and was missed according to Sacilotto.
“It was a big hole not to have him in the line up tonight, we miss the physical play that he offers the team.”
The Royals fall to 2-2 on their 6 game homestand and back to .500 overall with 24 points. The 8th place Cougars earned their 9th win of the season, and with 22 points are within striking distance of the 6th place Victoria.
“We need to play a simple, fast, physical game…” said Logan Nelson about the rematch on Saturday, “We’re lucky to have them back in our building tomorrow…We’ll be ready.”
The two clubs square off again on the Island Saturday night.
-mm
Prince George Cougars 5 at Victoria Royals 4 - Status: Final
Friday, November 23, 2012 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC
Prince George 3 2 0 - 5
Victoria 1 2 1 - 4
1st Period-
1, Victoria, Hodges 6 (Hicketts, Kanzig), 5:20.
2, Prince George, Roulston 6 (Carvalho, Pochiro), 6:05.
3, Prince George, Hanes 2 (Forsberg, Gibb), 14:24.
4, Prince George, Jacobs 10 (Mykitiuk, Forsberg), 19:57 (PP).
Penalties-Kanzig Vic (delay of game), 8:35; Fransoo Vic (hooking), 16:59; served by Fushimi Vic (too many men), 19:12.
2nd Period-
5, Prince George, Roulston 7 (Pochiro, Carvalho), 3:31.
6, Victoria, Crooks 12 (Nelson, Fransoo), 7:30 (PP).
7, Victoria, Walker 8 (Gogolev, Fransoo), 15:26.
8, Prince George, Hanes 3 (Forsberg, Ehrhardt), 15:59 (PP).
Penalties-Roulston P.g (hooking), 6:29; Fransoo Vic (delay of game), 15:44; Jacobs P.g (instigator, major-fighting, 10-minute misconduct), 17:34; Fisher Vic (major-fighting), 17:34.
3rd Period-
9, Victoria, Magee 11 (Cote, Walker), 11:01.
Penalties-Carvalho P.g (interference), 7:54; Grewal P.g (tripping), 9:24; Crooks Vic (interference), 9:50; Mykitiuk P.g (roughing), 19:53; Tkatch P.g (roughing), 19:53; Gogolev Vic (roughing), 19:53; Magee Vic (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 19:53; Nelson Vic (roughing), 19:53.
Shots on Goal-
Prince George 10-11-7-28.
Victoria 6-6-12-24.
Power Play Opportunities-
Prince George 2 / 6;
Victoria 1 / 4.
Goalies-
Prince George, Engel 4-7-0-3 (24 shots-20 saves).
Victoria,
Polivka 9-6-0-0 (15 shots-11 saves);
Vollrath 1-4-0-0 (13 shots-12 saves).
A-4,273
Referees-Tyler Adair (58), Cole Hamm (51).
Linesmen-Ron Dietterle (121), Chris Sweeting (137).
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