Coleman Vollrath made 39 saves to help the visiting Victoria Royals to their 5th straight victory by beating the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-1 on Friday night.
“Our goaltender gave us a chance in the first period…” said
Head Coach Dave Lowry, who’s club was outshot 17-6 in the first 20 minutes, but
came out with a 1-1 tie on goals by Tyler Soy (9th) on a breakaway,
and Flyers first round pick Ivan Provorov.
“We had to get skating, our strength is our speed…I give credit
to Vollrath he was sharp early, and I give the rest of the guys credit they came out
and played a solid forty.”
The Royals responded with 13 shots in the second, and were
rewarded with a pair of goals by Alex Forsberg (6th) and Dante
Hannoun’s team leading 11th on a 2 on 1, to take a 3-1 lead to the third.
“Timely goal scoring tonight was probably the key…”
said Lowry, as Phillips on a breakaway put the game out of reach in the third.
“Also Hannoun’s goal…he comes out of the box and scores on
that shift.”
Phillips ended with a goal and an assist, while Joe Hicketts
added a pair of helpers.
“We circled this game as big statement game,” said
the 17 year old rookie Phillips who is now 5th in rookie scoring
with 14 points in 19 games,
“I thought we had a slow start but got our legs in the
second…we did a good job weathering the storm, and got to our game and took
over from there.”
The Royals have now won all 5 on their Eastern Division road
trip, which wraps up in Regina
Saturday night. They now have points in
7 straight (6-0-0-1) moving into first place in the league with a record of
(13-5-0-1, 27 points). They’ve also won
6 straight road games, improving their away record to 8-3.
“It’s been a real good confidence booster,” said Joe
Hicketts who’ll be wearing the ‘C’ for Team WHL at the Canada Russia Challenge
next Tuesday in Kamloops,
“Knowing that we can play with, and against some of the
top teams, in some of the hardest buildings in the league – it’s something that
shows the character we have in the room.”
The Wheat Kings are ranked #5 in the CHL, and fall to record
of 11-4-0-2.
Vollrath earned his league leading 12th win and
was named first star, while Jordan Papirny suffered his 4th defeat,
and third in a row, allowing 4 goals on 35 Royals shots.
Victoria was 0
for 1 on the power play, and shut down both Brandon
man advantages.
“Discipline is the key to winning on the road,” said
Lowry,
“You have to respect their offense, they’re the highest
scoring team in the league, and you have to make them work for their
chances. If you take needless penalties
it makes them easy for them – and we wanted to make it hard for them.”
The Royals improve to 10-0 when leading after 40 minutes.
Hannoun extends his point streak to 7 games with 9 points in
that span (7g 2a). Phillips pushed his
point streak to 4 games and 6 points (3g 3a).
Soy has goals in 3 straight games.
Forsberg has 7 points in his last 3 outings (2g 5a). Hicketts leads all defenseman in assists with
20, and is 2nd in points by a rearguard with 21.
The Pats fell on the road against the Broncos 3-1 Friday,
and will take on a Royals squad playing their 4th game in 5 nights,
and 6th of 9 on the road.
“Just make sure we’re ready to play…” said Lowry on
facing Regina,
“We’ve done a really good job of managing the days off, managing
the rest, and making sure they’re fresh to play games.”
Puck drops at 5pm PST
- Marlon Martens
Victoria
Royals 4 at Brandon Wheat Kings 1 - Status: Final
Friday, November 6, 2015 - Westman Place - Brandon, MB
Victoria 1 2 1 - 4
Brandon 1 0 0 - 1
1st Period-
Friday, November 6, 2015 - Westman Place - Brandon, MB
Victoria 1 2 1 - 4
Brandon 1 0 0 - 1
1st Period-
1, Victoria,
Soy 9 (Walker, Reddekopp), 2:10.
2, Brandon, Provorov 3 (Clague, Waltz), 13:25.
Penalties-Gagnon Vic (checking from behind), 11:20; Waltz Bdn (boarding), 14:46.
2nd Period-
2nd Period-
3, Victoria, Forsberg 6 (Hicketts, Gagnon), 5:57.
4, Victoria, Hannoun 11 (Phillips, Hicketts), 18:02.
Penalties-Gagnon Vic (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 6:51; Erkamps
Bdn (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 6:51; Bobylev Vic (major-fighting), 14:00; Kaspick
Bdn (major-fighting), 14:00; Hannoun Vic (tripping), 15:30.
3rd Period-
3rd Period-
5, Victoria, Phillips 7 (Jarratt), 16:32.
Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-
Shots on Goal-
Victoria
6-13-16-35.
Brandon
17-10-13-40.
Power Play Opportunities-
Victoria 0 /
1;
Brandon 0 / 2.
Goalies-
Victoria, Vollrath 12-5-0-1 (40 shots-39 saves).
Brandon, Papirny 6-4-0-2 (35 shots-31 saves).
A-4,578
Referees-Kyle Kowalski (15), Trevor Peluk (79).
Linesmen-Kelsey Mahoney (138), Darrell Surminski (37).
