Recap: VIC 5 - MJ 2

Dante Hannoun scored twice and Alex Forsberg had 3 points as the visiting Victoria Royals beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-2 Wednesday night to win their 4^th in a row.

“I really liked the way our guys competed…”, said Head Coach Dave Lowry,

“We talked about how this was going to be a real tough game for us.  Playing last night, and (Moose Jaw) sitting here waiting…”

The Royals held period leads of 2-1 and 3-2 before pulling away with a pair in the third.

“Our guys weathered the storm early, we gave up the first goal.  It was one of the first games we haven’t played without the lead for a while, and we showed some resiliency and were able to score a key shorthanded goal.”

Joe Hicketts added two assists, Forsberg a goal and two assists, while Victoria also got goals from Tyler Soy (8^th) shorthanded and Matthew Phillips (6^th).

Brayden Point had a pair of helpers for the Warriors who are now winless in 3.

The Royals have now won 5 straight on the road (7-3), including all 4 on their Eastern Division road trip.  The wins have come against the Raiders, Blades, Broncos and now Warriors.

Netminder Coleman Vollrath earned his league leading 11^th win of the year making 17 saves.  Warriors, and Team WHL netminder Zach Sawchenko allowed 5 goals on 31 shots.

The Royals went 2 for 5 on the power play, while the Warriors were 1 for 3 and allowed a short handed goal.  Moose Jaw owns the 2^nd best power play and 2^nd best penalty kill.

“Our power play was moving the puck well tonight,” said Hicketts.

Victoria has now earned points in 6 straight games, (5-0-0-1) sitting a top of the Western Conference, 2^nd in the league with a record of 12-5-0-1 and 25 points reaching the quarter mark of the season.

“I don’t think this is where we envisioned our team to be,” said Lowry on the record thus far,

“I thought we were going to have to work every night to find a way to win.  It’s a credit to our players, our leadership, the way they’re preparing, taking pride and the way that we want to play to win.”

Sophmore forward Dante Hannoun extends his point streak to 6 games with 8 points (6g 2a) and leads the club in goals with 10. 

“I thought that we came in prepared,” said Hannoun on the win, “Everyone was working their hardest, and overall played a great team game.”

Hicketts is now on a 4 game point streak with 8 points (1g 7a), and is 2^nd in defenseman scoring in the league with 19 points. 

“I think our starts have been critical in our last couple games,” said Hicketts on the clubs recent success,

“I thought we a really good first 10 minutes again and we build momentum off that.”

Phillips now has 6 goals and his 12 points is good for 6^th in rookie scoring.  Phillips has now notched two goals and two assists in his past three games.  Forsberg has back to back 3 point performances and leads the team in points with 21 (5g 16a).

Noah Gregor for Moose Jaw struck first but goals by Hannoun and Soy gave Victoria a 2-1 lead after 20, Forsberg extended the lead to 3-1 in the middle frame before Dryden Hunt scored in the final minute to close the gap to 1 heading to the 3^rd.

Hannoun struck on 2 on 0 with Forsberg to give Victoria a 4-2 lead early in the third before Phillips notched a goal on the power play to put the game out of reach.

Next up Victoria visits Brandon Friday at 5:30, and Regina Saturday night at 5.

- Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals 5 at Moose Jaw Warriors 2 - Status: Final
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 - Mosaic Place - Moose Jaw, SK

Victoria 2 1 2 - 5
Moose Jaw 1 1 0 - 2

1st Period-

1, Moose Jaw, Gregor 5 (Point, Hunt), 9:22 (PP).

2, Victoria, Hannoun 9 (Forsberg, Hicketts), 14:20.

3, Victoria, Soy 8   17:06 (SH).

Penalties-Walker Vic (hooking), 1:37; Walker Vic (hooking), 8:49; Hicketts Vic (checking to the head), 15:56.

2nd Period-

4, Victoria, Forsberg 5 (Reddekopp), 15:14 (PP).

5, Moose Jaw, Hunt 13 (Point, McNulty), 19:11.

Penalties-Reddekopp Vic (roughing), 3:39; Shynkaruk M.j (roughing), 3:39; Hunt M.j (tripping), 4:54; Paradis M.j (slashing), 7:35; Popugaev M.j (too many men), 13:35; Bobylev Vic (major-fighting), 17:41; Jeannot M.j (major-fighting), 17:41.

3rd Period-

6, Victoria, Hannoun 10 (Forsberg), 2:11.

7, Victoria, Phillips 6 (Hicketts), 9:53 (PP).

Penalties-Pachal Vic (major-fighting), 8:08; Bargar M.j (major-fighting), 8:08; Quinney M.j (holding), 8:32; Hunt M.j (slashing), 12:33.

Shots on Goal-

Victoria 13-12-6-31.

Moose Jaw 7-4-8-19.

Power Play Opportunities-

Victoria 2 / 5;

Moose Jaw 1 / 3.

Goalies-

Victoria, Vollrath 11-5-0-1 (19 shots-17 saves).

Moose Jaw, Sawchenko 7-3-1-1 (31 shots-26 saves).

A-3,004
Referees-Adam Byblow (23), Chad Williams (60).
Linesmen-Shane Smith (123), Steven Lund (118).