“Our preparation, our urgency, wasn’t at the level where it was supposed to be, especially at this time of year…” said Royals Head Coach Dave Lowry,
Kamloops forward Matt Needham broke a 2-2 third period tie for the eventual game winner, as Gaudet added his 2nd of the night into an empty night for the insurance, helping the Blazers snap a 4 game losing streak.
The Royals drop both games on their BC Division swing, after falling by the same 4-2 score against the Rockets Wednesday.
“We understand that we just came off 3 games with Kelowna that were really heavy games, emotional games, and hard games on the body. We thought this might be a game where it was going to be hard to get ready emotionally to play, and it was.” said Lowry
Kamloops is now 3 points back of Vancouver for the final playoff spot in the BC Division.
It was the final meeting of the regular season between the clubs, with the Royals earning a winning record of 4-3-1-0.
Greg Chase and Brandon Magee scored the goals for Victoria, in a game which was tied at 1 after 20 minutes, and after 40.
“Right from the get go we weren’t mentally prepared to play, and that cost us in the long run…” said Magee who tied the game at 2, just :33 seconds after Kamloops took their first lead of the game in the third,
“Being able to battle back to 2-2 was good for our boys, but not too long after they were getting around our net and we didn’t do a good job of picking up sticks and that was their go ahead goal.”
Logan McVeigh scored the other for the Blazers.
“We spent an enormous amount of time in our zone, and it was a good thing our goalie was sharp.” said Lowry.
Royals netminder Justin Paulic was the third star, making 38 saves in loss in his 3rd straight start. Connor Ingram earned the victory for the Blazers, allowing two goals on 14 shots.
Victoria shut down all 4 Kamloops power plays, while the Royals were 0 for 1 on the power play.
Seattle visits the Island for a pair of back to back games Monday and Tuesday.
- Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals 2 at Kamloops Blazers 4 - Status: Final
Friday, February 27, 2015 - Interior Savings Centre - Kamloops, BC
Victoria 1 0 1 - 2
Kamloops 1 0 3 - 4
1st Period-
1, Victoria, Chase 19 1:50.
2, Kamloops, Gaudet 3 (Sideroff, Ully), 8:51.
Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period- No Scoring.
Penalties-served by Hannoun Vic (interference), 2:18; Carroll Vic (cross checking), 7:01; Sideroff Kam (hooking), 11:52; Crunk Vic (tripping), 14:28.
3rd Period-
3, Kamloops, McVeigh 7 (Shirley, Harrison), 4:28.
4, Victoria, Magee 18 (Carroll, Forsberg), 5:01.
5, Kamloops, Needham 21 (Gaudet, Benjafield), 16:21.
6, Kamloops, Gaudet 4 19:21 (EN).
Penalties-Walker Vic (instigator, major-fighting, 10-minute misconduct), 8:30; Maier Kam (major-fighting), 8:30.
Shots on Goal-
Victoria 6-4-4-14.
Kamloops 13-14-15-42.
Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 0 / 1;
Kamloops 0 / 4.
Goalies-
Victoria, Paulic 13-13-1-1 (41 shots-38 saves).
Kamloops, Ingram 16-17-1-3 (14 shots-12 saves).
A-3,927
Referees-Ryan Benbow (62), Chris Crich (20).
Linesmen-Riley Balson (46), Dustin Minty (86).
