“I liked everything,” said Head Coach Dave Lowry on his clubs performance,
"We competed the right way tonight, our special teams did a really good job, and we paid the the price, and paid attention to details…”
The Royals went 2 for 2 with the man advantage while shutting down the top power play in the league on all 3 chances.
Leading 3-2 going into the third, the Royals outscored the Rockets 3-1 in the third while being heavily outshot.
“We gave up a lot of shots, but a lot them were from the outside, and when we did have breakdowns, our goaltender was really good.” said Lowry
Vollrath was named first star facing 47 shots, and came up big stopping Leon Draisaitl, the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers first round pick, on a breakaway in the third.
“He was great, we needed that kind of performance from our goalie to come in here to win. We give up 47 shots and your goalie’s first star, it gives you an opportunity to win - and that’s probably one of the main reason we did win.”
Jackson Whistle allowed 6 goals on 26 shots in just the Rockets 8th regulation home loss all season. Nick Merkley had a pair of goals for Kelowna, and Devante Stephens added a single.
Victoria earns their first victory in Kelowna this season, and wrap up the 8 game set with a 3-5 record against the top team in the WHL, ranked #2 in the CHL.
The 2nd place Royals are now riding a two game road win streak after a 4-3 shoot out victory Saturday night against the 3rd place Cougars, and have 5 games remaining.
Soy’s line with Greg Chase (2a), and Jack Walker (2a) combined for 7 points. It was Soy’s second hat trick of the season, and now has 27 goals and 60 points in 64 games. Earlier in the day he was ranked 64th by Craig’s list on TSN.
“It’s definitely a good feeling,” said Soy who’s father was in attendance,
"We knew going in it was going to be a hard game with Kelowna fighting for first in the league and that they’d come out strong…we really battled well, played a full 60 minutes and gave us the win.”
Victoria also got goals from Brandon Magee (1g 1a), Brandon Fushimi, and Austin Carroll (1g 1a).
With a pair of assists, Joe Hicketts retook the scoring lead among defenseman with 61 points, including 50 assists.
6 Royals had multi point nights.
“We needed our best players to be better than their best players…and that was the only way we’d have a chance to win." said Lowry,
"I thought our top guys really stepped up and really did a good job.”
Victoria wraps up their 4 game BC Division road trip (2-1) in Vancouver Friday night at 7:30, the first of 3 in 3 days against the Giants.
- Marlon Martens
Victoria Royals 6 at Kelowna Rockets 3 - Status: Final
Wednesday, March 11, 2015 - Prospera Place - Kelowna, BC
Victoria 0 3 3 - 6
Kelowna 0 2 1 - 3
1st Period-
No Scoring.
Penalties-Carroll Vic (slashing), 9:57; Magee Vic (embellishment), 11:20; Southam Kel (cross checking), 11:20.
2nd Period-
1, Victoria, Magee 20 (Hicketts, Carroll), 2:11 (PP).
2, Kelowna, Merkley 19 (Martin, Stadel), 6:20.
3, Victoria, Fushimi 13 (Fisher, Jarratt), 9:28.
4, Kelowna, Stephens 4 (Draisaitl, Southam), 13:49.
5, Victoria, Soy 25 (Hicketts, Chase), 14:29.
Penalties-Martin Kel (slashing), 1:51; Brown Vic (boarding), 4:17; Merkley Kel (hooking), 19:59.
3rd Period-
6, Victoria, Soy 26 (Walker, Reddekopp), 1:36 (PP).
7, Kelowna, Merkley 20 (Soustal, Bowey), 10:29.
8, Victoria, Carroll 36 (Forsberg, Magee), 12:29.
9, Victoria, Soy 27 (Chase, Walker), 16:29.
Penalties-Brown Vic (roughing), 13:53.
Shots on Goal-
Victoria 8-12-6-26.
Kelowna 16-16-15-47.
Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 2 / 2;
Kelowna 0 / 3.
Goalies-
Victoria, Vollrath 26-14-3-1 (47 shots-44 saves).
Kelowna, Whistle 32-9-4-0 (26 shots-20 saves).
A-5,028
Referees-Brett Iverson (24), Derek Zalaski (8).
Linesmen-Ryan Gibbons (73), Dustin Minty (86).
