Jordon Cooke made 33 saves and Myles Bell scored the lone shoot out goal to lift the visiting Kelowna Rockets (9-2-0-2, 20pts) past the Victoria Royals 2-1 Saturday night.
The victory gave the Rockets top spot in the BC Division with 20 points, one more than the Royals (9-7-0-1, 19pts) who suffer their first shoot out loss of the season. Victoria was looking to avenge the 4-1 loss from the night before.
Kelowna takes 4 points from the weekend two game set, and a 2-1 season series lead.
Nick Merkley gave the Rockets a 1-0 first period lead, while Brett Cote scored a power play goal in the second to tie the game at 1. There was no scoring in the third or overtime as the Royals outshot the oppostion 34-30.
In the shoot out, Cooke stopped all three Victoria forwards, Logan Nelson, and brothers Jack and Ben Walker, while Justin Kirkland and Zach Franko were denied by Coleman Vollrath, bookending Bells winning goal.
Vollrath stopped 29 of 30 and falls to 1-2-0-1 on the season. Cooke improves to 8-0-0-2.
Victoria’s power play struck once of 4 opportunites against the leagues best penalty killing, while Kelowna went 0 for 2.
Ben Walker and Brandon Magee had there 4 game point scoring streaks halted.
Royals 19 year old forward Steven Hodges, who has yet to play a regular season game this year due to minor surgery, was a late scratch and could make a return by next weekend when the club faces the Red Deer Rebels for a pair.
- Marlon Martens
Kelowna Rockets 2 (SO) at Victoria Royals 1 - Status: Final SO
Saturday, October 26, 2013 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC
Kelowna 1 0 0 0 - 2
Victoria 0 1 0 0 - 1
1st Period-
1, Kelowna, Merkley 6 (Schmidli, Olsen), 17:09.
Penalties-Baillie Kel (hooking), 9:03; Gagnon Vic (delay of game), 15:05; Cote Vic (delay of game), 19:10.
2nd Period-
2, Victoria, Cote 2 (Carroll, Nelson), 12:05 (PP).
Penalties-Gatenby Kel (interference), 6:04; Nyberg Kel (slashing), 8:04; Martin Kel (checking from behind), 10:49; Olsen Kel (roughing), 12:05; Fisher Vic (roughing), 12:05.
3rd Period-
No Scoring.
Penalties-Goulbourne Kel (major-fighting), 9:35; Kohlhauser Vic (major-fighting), 9:35.
OT Period-
No Scoring.
Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout –
Kelowna 1 (Kirkland NG, Bell G, Franko NG),
Victoria 0 (Nelson NG, Walker NG, Walker NG).
Shots on Goal-
Kelowna 9-11-8-2-1-31.
Victoria 8-19-7-0-0-34.
Power Play Opportunities-
Kelowna 0 / 2;
Victoria 1 / 4.
Goalies-
Kelowna, Cooke 8-0-0-2 (34 shots-33 saves).
Victoria, Vollrath 2-1-0-1 (30 shots-29 saves).
A-4,541
Referees-Mark Pearce (5), Pat Smith (12).
Linesmen-Tim Digby (75), Bevan Mills (98).
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