“I think we got away lucky, we really dodged a bullet…” said Head Coach Dave Lowry, “You’re spotting teams, 3, 4 goal leads, and tonight we got away with it.”
Down 4-0 after 20 minutes, the Royals scored the next four to pull even, but the Rebels went ahead once more, before Victoria forced overtime with less than a minute to go.
Soy’s 3rd capped off comeback, for the clubs 2nd overtime win of the year.
“Carroll walked in, took a shot and I buried the rebound back door. You couldn’t have drawn it up any better than that, it was definitely a good feeling.” said Soy on scoring the game winner. “It was a character comeback, and it was good for the team.”
Evan Smith earned his first win as a Royal, stopping 17 of 19 in relief of Coleman Vollrath who allowed 3 goal on 10 shots.
“Couldn’t feel better right now, it was a great feeling, great win for sure.” Said Smith
Austin Carroll (1g 2a), Joe Hicketts (3a) and Travis Brown (3a) had 3 point nights, while Jack Walker (1g 1a) had two points. Brown was named the games first star.
“It’s huge for our team, confidence wise. We didn’t start the way we wanted but we stuck to the game plan and it ended up working out.” Said Brown
Six different Royals figured in the scoring, Brandon Fushimi back from injury got their first goal in the middle frame, while shorthanded. Carroll got the second on the power play, before Matthew Campese got the third of four third period goals. Jack Walker tied it at 4. Axel Blomqvist got his first of the season with the goaltender pulled to send the game to overtime.
Victoria went 2 for 5 on the power play, Red Deer was 1 for 5 but didn’t get a man advantage in the final frame.
The Royals were outshot 13-5 in the first, 12 a piece in the second, then dominated the Rebels in the third with a 15-3 shot advantage.
Taylor Crunk fought Evan Polei in a heavy weight tilt in the second, with the club down 4-0, providing a lift.
“And the only reason we won the game was because Taylor Crunk goes out and really pays a price to lay a little spark, and finally somebody showed some emotion, we were able to score a short handed goal, and things started falling into place.” Said Lowry
Carroll extended his point streak to 8 games, (7g 6a) with 13 points, and his league high goal scoring streak to 7 games with 7goals.
Wyatt Johnson and Adam Musil had a goal and assist each, while Austin Strand and Grayson Pawlenchuk added singles for Red Deer.
Royals newest defenseman, 17 year old Russian Marsel Ibragimov, claimed off waivers from Edmonton had a strong showing in his debut with the club according to Lowry,
“I thought he played well…he’s a right handed shot, something that we don’t have a lot of. He came as advertised, a skilled individual and I liked his game.”
Earlier in the day, Kristian Ferletak who the Royals put on waivers was claimed by the Broncos.
“It’s always tough when you have good kids and you have to make tough decisions on them…” said Lowry on the import situation, “…with Kristian we felt there was an opportunity to upgrade our team, and upgrade our back end.”
Victoria improves to 2-1 on their 6 game Central Division road trip with a win in Calgary and loss in Medicine Hat. Up next they’re in Edmonton Wednesday, Lethbridge Friday and wrap up in Kootenay on Saturday.
- Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals 6 (OT) at Red Deer Rebels 5 - Status: End of Game
Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - Enmax Centrium - Red Deer, AB
Victoria 0 1 4 1 - 6
Red Deer 4 0 1 0 - 5
1st Period-
1, Red Deer, Musil 4 (Johnson), 0:47.
2, Red Deer, Feser 2 (Cote, Charif), 2:46 (PP).
3, Red Deer, Johnson 3 (de Wit, Musil), 10:04.
4, Red Deer, Pawlenchuk 3 (Bleackley, Fleury), 15:46.
Penalties-Brown Vic (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 0:58; Reddekopp Vic (checking to the head), 4:07; Fleury R.d (holding), 10:49; Blomqvist Vic (slashing), 16:06; Crunk Vic (roughing), 19:30; Nell R.d (roughing), 19:30.
2nd Period-
5, Victoria, Fushimi 2 (Hicketts), 14:48 (SH).
Penalties-Brown Vic (charging), 4:38; Brown Vic (major-fighting), 10:50; Polei R.d (major-fighting), 10:50; Kanzig Vic (roughing), 13:07; Cote R.d (hooking), 18:11; Fleury R.d (roughing), 20:00.
3rd Period-
6, Victoria, Carroll 7 (Brown, Walker), 1:21 (PP).
7, Victoria, Campese 2 (Palmer), 3:17.
8, Victoria, Walker 4 (Brown, Hicketts), 11:03 (PP).
9, Red Deer, Strand 1 12:32.
10, Victoria, Blomqvist 1 (Carroll, Hicketts), 19:03.
Penalties- R.d (too many men), 5:04; Maxwell R.d (tripping), 10:05.
OT Period-
11, Victoria, Soy 3 (Carroll, Brown), 1:09.
Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-
Victoria 5-12-15-2-34.
Red Deer 13-12-3-1-29.
Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 2 / 5;
Red Deer 1 / 5.
Goalies-
Victoria,
Vollrath 3-5-1-0 (10 shots-7 saves);
Smith 1-0-0-0 (19 shots-17 saves).
Red Deer,
Toth 3-3-1-0 (34 shots-28 saves).
A-3,831
Referees-Tyler Adair (58), Reid Anderson (53).
Linesmen-Chad Huseby (59), Cody Huseby (88).
