Recap: VAN 0 - VIC 8 (Sat. Jan.23.2016)

The Victoria Royals got two goal performances from Tyler Soy, Matthew Phillips and Ethan Price as they defeated the visiting Vancouver Giants 8-0 Saturday night. 

“We're feeling pretty good,” said Soy on the victory,

“Anytime you’re able to put the puck in the net 8 times is pretty spectacular, so we're happy with how we played.”

Soy extended his goal scoring streak to 5 games with 7 in that span, and chipped in an assist for a 3 point night.

“We know that tomorrow will be a completely different game so we have to make sure that we are prepared for them to give us a good push back.”

Victoria evened the season series at 3 games a piece, and will meet again Sunday afternoon at 2pm on the Island.

The Royals led 1-0 after 20 minutes, added 3 goals in the second period and 4 more in the third.

“A lot of times when you're up by a big score, you tend to coast.  I  thought we kept the foot on the gas pedal for 60 minutes…”  said Royals Assistant Coach Enio Sacilotto.

The Giants were missing some key players, six in total, including top prospects Tyler Benson and Ty Ronning, 20 year old Carter Popoff, 19 year old Thomas Foster, and 16 year first round bantam picks Dawson Holt and Brendan Semchuk.

“We knew that they had some of their top guys out, so we thought if we jumped on them early, got a lot of pressure on them early - maybe we can return the favour,” said Soy,

“It was nice that the guys didn't let up - and I think we played a solid game.”

Victoria’s Griffen Outhouse earned his 3^rd shut out in his rookie campaign, the most in franchise history by a freshman, while making 27 saves. 

After 17 games, Outhouse leads the league in save percentage (0.938), and goals against average (1.92).  He was snubbed by NHL Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings for the upcoming NHL draft.  Outhouse started the last 7 of the last 8 games, with 20 year old Coleman Vollrath shouldering the lion’s share of games played with 36.

“Its competition…” said Head Coach Dave Lowry on his goaltending situation,

“There's nothing wrong with a competitive environment, and Griffen is worthy of playing, as is Coleman.  Competition for these guys makes them better, keeps them sharp and it allows us not to have to over play one player.”

Vancouver started back up Jake Morrissey, who’s only played 17 WHL games, to relieve Ryan Kubic who appeared in 27 straight games.  Morrissey allowed 8 goals on 30 Royals shots.

Victoria was 1 for 1 on the power play while Vancouver was 0 for 3.  The Royals now have stopped 20 of 21 opposition power plays over the last 7 games, good for 3^rd best in the WHL.

8 Victoria skaters had multi point games including Vladimir Bobylev and Dante Hannoun with a goal and assist each, 3 assists for Jack Walker, and 2 helpers for Alex Forsberg and Joe Hicketts.

Bobylev extends his point streak to 4 with 5 points in that span (1g 4a), while Price has back to back 2 goal games. 

Rookie Matthew Phillips leads the team in goals with 26, the most by a rookie in the WHL, but was not listed by NHL CSS rankings - along with Hannoun who now has 19 goals in his sophomore campaign.

“I got asked about the Top Prospects game, and Griffen not being there, and we've got guys that are worthy of opportunities…”  Said Lowry,

“I just tell our guys - just keep proving everybody wrong.  Just go out and play the way that you play - that will answer all the questions.” 

It was also back to back 8 goal outbursts for the Royals, after defeating the Tigers 8-2 Wednesday for the first time in franchise history.

“I think it's exactly how we want to play and we want to be a fast team, we want to play off of the opposition's net and we want the puck.  We always talk about where we want to finish when we get it in the offensive zone, we want to finish at the net.” According to Lowry,

“Tonight we get a couple of lucky bounces - we have guys in the right area, they work to get back above pucks and they stop, and then we started stopping on pucks in the offensive zone as the game progressed.”

Victoria moves back into 2^nd spot in the West, one point up on Everett and Prince George in a tight battle.

The Royals now have points in 5 straight games, (4-0-1-0).

The Giants remain 10^th and last in the West, now 8 points out of a Wild Card spot.

- Marlon Martens

Vancouver Giants 0 at Victoria Royals 8 - Status: Final
Saturday, January 23, 2016 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC

Vancouver 0 0 0 - 0
Victoria 1 3 4 - 8

1st Period-

1, Victoria, Soy 23 (Hicketts), 12:10.

Penalties-Hannoun Vic (boarding), 4:49; Cox Van (roughing), 10:42; Westgard Vic (roughing), 10:42; Phillips Vic (roughing), 12:10.

2nd Period-

2, Victoria, Bobylev 14 (Soy), 3:28.

3, Victoria, Phillips 25 (Walford), 10:54.

4, Victoria, Hannoun 19 (Hicketts, Walker), 19:14 (PP).

Penalties-Plouffe Van (high sticking), 19:08.

3rd Period-

5, Victoria, Phillips 26 (Hannoun, Walker), 8:18.

6, Victoria, Soy 24 (Bobylev, Forsberg), 13:23.

7, Victoria, Price 6 (Walker, Westgard), 18:27.

8, Victoria, Price 7 (Fisher, Forsberg), 19:27.

Penalties-Walker Vic (hooking), 15:45.

Shots on Goal-

Vancouver 11-6-10-27.

Victoria 7-7-16-30.

Power Play Opportunities-

Vancouver 0 / 3;

Victoria 1 / 1.

Goalies-

Vancouver, Morrissey 0-3-0-0 (30 shots-22 saves).

Victoria, Outhouse 9-3-2-1 (27 shots-27 saves).

A-5,017
Referees-Fraser Lawrence (10), Kevin Webinger (6).
Linesmen-Riley Friesen (76), Kirk Van Helvoirt (107).