Recap: Everett 1 - Victoria 4

The Royals salute the crowd in the final regular season home game.

The Victoria Royals (34-30-2-5, 75pts) set the franchise record for wins (34) and points (75) in a season with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Everett Silvertips on Friday.

The club surpasses the previous best set by the Chilliwack Bruins in ‘10-11 of (33-31-4-4, 74pts).

It’s been a long time in the making…the guys are really proud to be a part of it  and everyone in the room is real happy for it.”    - Jordan Fransoo, Royals Interim Captain

Royals buzzing around Austin Lotz

Victoria takes a 2-1 season series lead, and will play in Everett Saturday to complete the home and home and wrap up the regular season.  They face Kamloops in the opening round of the playoffs Friday March 22nd on the road.

Nelson behind the net

It was fan appreciation night in the last regular home game of the season, snapping a 3 game losing streak in front 6,707 – 299 short of a sellout.

“We wanted to get our game back on track and wanted to do it for the fans…they’ve been really loyal to us all year long…we took it really dearly to put on a good show tonight.”  Fransoo said.

Vollrath 19 saves

The Royals got a pair of goals from interim Captain Jordan Fransoo and Joe Hicketts as the defense provided all four goals for the club.

“We got some secondary scoring, we got all the scoring from the back end tonight.  That hasn’t happened all year.  It’s good to see them get rewarded…”  - Dave Lowry, Royals Head Coach

Victoria now has five 50 point men as Steven Hodges had 3 assists to hit the 50 point plateau, while Ben Walker’s lone assist gives him 50 - joining Jamie Crooks (53), Brandon Magee (60), and Alex Gogolev (65).

Hodges would miss but Fransoo scores

8th place Everett clinched a playoff berth with Prince George’s loss and can still catch 7th place Seattle.  The Tips are 3 points back with 2 games left, the Thunderbirds have just one game remaining.

“They’re a hungry team…we knew they were going to come at us hard and they’re still going to be playing for something (Saturday) night..it’s a good test for us, we’d rather have that than a meaningless game, because we need to prepare for the playoffs..” – Ben Cooper, Royals Assistant Coach

After a scoreless first, Fransoo playing in his 200th career game opened the scoring on the power play, and Joe Hicketts converted a 3 on 2 to give the Royals a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.

Vollrath Robs Winquist

Fransoo would put the club up 3-0 in the 3rd, before Joshua Winquist would bring the Silvertips to within two, making for an interesting finish.  With Everett on the power play late and the net minder pulled, Joe Hicketts found the empty net for his 5th of the year on 3rd goal in his last 3 games.

In his 6th straight start, Coleman Vollrath stopped 19 of 20 for his 4th win of the season.  His counterpart Austin Lotz allowed 3 goals on 31 shots.  Victoria was dominant in the middle frame outshooting Everett 12-3, and 32-20 overall.

Kanzig blocks a shot

The Royals were 1 for 4 on the power play, while the ‘Tips went 0 for 4.

Victoria was without their leading scorer Alex Gogolev (day to day) who’s missed 19 games with a skate cut, their captain Tyler Stahl (Lower, day to day), Trent Lofthouse (Upper, day to day), and Luke Harrison (Upper, indefinite), G Patrik Polivka (Lower, 1-2 wks).  Tim Traber sat out the final contest 6 game suspension.

Vollrath & Fransoo

Pregame show Saturday night at 6:40, with puck drop at 7 pm on The Zone @ 91.3 fm, or online at www.thezone.fm/listen

The Victoria Royals take on the Kamloops Blazers in Round 1 of the 2013 WHL Playoffs. Tickets for Games 3 and 4, held at Bear Mountain Arena, are on sale now. With limited Round 1 seats available, Royals fans are encouraged to order tickets quickly by calling 250-220-7777, visiting www.selectyourtickets.com, or heading down to the Select Your Tickets box office.



Everett Silvertips 1 at Victoria Royals 4 - Status: Final
Friday, March 15, 2013 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC

Everett 0 0 1 - 1
Victoria 0 2 2 - 4

1st Period- No Scoring.

Penalties-Kanzig Vic (interference), 6:27; Walker Vic (boarding), 15:40.

2nd Period-
1, Victoria, Fransoo 7 (Hodges, Cote), 8:04 (PP).
2, Victoria, Hicketts 4 (Hodges, Walker), 19:23.

Penalties-Winquist Evt (tripping), 6:57; Soumelidis Evt (interference), 8:49; Carroll Vic (inter. on goaltender), 10:53; Betker Evt (major-fighting), 18:30; Carroll Vic (major-fighting), 18:30; Cox Evt (roughing), 19:57.

3rd Period-
3, Victoria, Fransoo 8 (Hodges, Crunk), 6:32.
4, Everett, Winquist 24 (Petryk, Bauml), 13:05.
5, Victoria, Hicketts 5   18:49 (SH EN).

Penalties-Adam Evt (high sticking), 10:00; Deacon Vic (roughing), 17:25.

Shots on Goal-
Everett 11-3-6-20.
Victoria 14-12-6-32.

Power Play Opportunities-
Everett 0 / 4;
Victoria 1 / 4.

Goalies-
Everett, Lotz 15-19-2-1 (31 shots-28 saves).
Victoria, Vollrath 4-12-0-2 (20 shots-19 saves).
A-6,707
Referees-Curtis Marouelli (86), Derek Zalaski (8).
Linesmen-Ryan Gibbons (73), Chris Sweeting (137).