Royals at Giants 10 Oct 11

[CdnSailor]

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k29/cdnsailor/VictoriaRoyals.gif at http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k29/cdnsailor/VancouverGiants.gif

Victoria is meeting the Giants for the 3rd time this season having one apiece.
Victoria is currently in 2nd place in the BC Division with a 8-4-4-0-0 = 8 pts 190 PIM
Vancouver is currently in 4th with a 7-3-3-0-1 = 7 pts 135 PIM

[CdnSailor]

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k29/cdnsailor/VancouverGiants.gif 5 http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k29/cdnsailor/VictoriaRoyals.gif 1

Giants outshot the Royals 30 to 19
Penalties were 0/3 for each team.
Brendan Gallagher scored 3 and assisted in the other 2

Attendance: 5227

3 Stars
1. VAN - 11 Brendan Gallagher
2. VAN - 22 James Henry
3. VAN - 14 Marek Tvrdon

Game Summary
http://www.whl.ca/schedule/show/game/59461

[CdnSailor]

Lukas Kralik records first WHL goal in Victoria’s 5-1 loss to Vancouver.

For Immediate Release

Monday, October 10, 2011

Vancouver, BC – In a Thanksgiving Monday afternoon matchup at the PNE Pacific Coliseum the Victoria Royals took on B.C. division rivals the Vancouver Giants. The Royals gave Keith Hamilton the start in goal, while the Giants went with Adam Morrison.

The Giants were able to capitalize early after Brendan Gallagher scored 32 seconds in. Marek Tvrdon found Gallagher in the high slot, who fired a quick shot past the blocker of Hamilton for his fifth of the season. Vancouver increased their lead at 4:13 after James Henry found a loose rebound in the crease and slid it past an outstretched Hamilton. Just before the 10 minute mark of the period, the Giants pushed their lead to three after Tvrdon beat Hamilton with a backhand deke. The rest of the period saw the play even out as the Royals were able to generate a few scoring opportunities off the power play. Vancouver took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

Vancouver added their fourth at the 27 second mark of the middle frame when Gallagher converted a one-timer from the top of the right circle that beat the glove of the Victoria netminder. Halfway through the period, Royals’ forward Logan Nelson burst down the left wing and cut towards the net. Nelson then let a backhand go, but Morrison was in position to make the right shoulder stop. With less than two minutes left in the period, Vancouver’s Jordan Martinook sent Tvrdon in on a breakaway. Tvrdon skated in and snapped a quick shot on net, but Hamilton made the nice glove save. The Giants led 4-0 going into the final period.

At the 6:57 mark of the third period, Victoria broke Vancouver's shutout after Lukas Kralik stole the puck beside the Giants’ net and shot it high to the short side for his first WHL goal. Gallagher completed the hat trick at 12:58 after he snapped a shot past Hamilton from the left face-off dot to round out the scoring. Giants 5 Royals 1.

Victoria went 0/3 = 0.0% on the power play, while Vancouver was 0/3 = 0.00%. The Giants outshot the Royals 30-19.

[pontcanna]

Giants too much for weary Royals

Cleve Dheensaw, Times Colonist

Despite being only a fifth round draft pick, and undersized at five-footeight, Brendan Gallagher made quite an impression on the Montreal Canadiens during the NHL team’s training camp.

On Sunday he left his skate imprint all over the Victoria Royals, who had to be wishing the Vancouver Giants junior had stayed up with the Canadiens.

Gallagher was a one-man victory machine on a fivepoint afternoon with three goals and two assists to lead the host Giants to a 5-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Royals before 5,227 fans at the Pacific Coliseum.

“He [Gallagher] had a good day, obviously. We gave him a few chances but he earned others,” said Victoria GM and head coach Marc Habscheid. “He had good energy.” That’s something the Royals, playing their fourth game in five days, were lacking.

“We had no jump today,” said Habscheid.
“Playing four games in five days . . . those things begin to line up. We know we have to bring it every night. But at a certain point, fatigue becomes a factor.”

Gallagher struck while the ice was still wet, beating Victoria goaltender Keith Hamilton at just 32 seconds. The Delta native then assisted on captain James Henry’s goal at 4:13 and Marek Tvrdon’s tally at 9:43 as the Giants skated to a 3-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old.

“We talked beforehand that whoever had the best start would be at an advantage. But it was them [Giants] who got the jump on us,” said Habscheid.

Gallagher, the 147th player selected in the 2010 NHL entry draft, counted the lone goal of the second period at 27 seconds and closed out scoring at 12:58 of the third.

Rookie Czech import Lukas Kralik scored his first WHL goal at 6:57 of the final frame for Victoria to deny Vancouver goaltender Adam Morrison the shutout.
“He [Kralik] needs to produce and hopefully that will help him,” said Habscheid.

Hamilton made 25 saves for Victoria and Morrison only 18 for Vancouver as the Royals were unable to mount any sort of sustained offensive thrust.
Both teams were zerofor-three on the power play.

Victoria (4-5), which started the season 3-1, is 1-4 over its last five games. The Giants moved to 4-3-1.

A contributing factor to the Royals’ recent slide has been the absence of three principal players due to injury — forward Brandon Magee and blue-liners Zach Habscheid and Tyler Stahl. The trio are doubtful for the Royals’ next action, a home set Friday and Saturday against the Kelowna Rockets at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

“We’ve got some guys out and I’m not sure they will be ready for the weekend,” said Habscheid.
“But this is affording some of the younger guys opportunities to play. They are gaining experience. But that said, those are three key players who are out and we need them back.”

Kelowna, which has played four fewer games than the Royals, is 3-2, but has lost its last two games.

ICE CHIPS: Forward Kale Kessy of the Medicine Hat Tigers has received a five-game suspension from the league for his hit from behind that took out Zach Habscheid in a game last Thursday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre . . . That’s become an unfortunate refrain in the early season for the Royals, who are missing 19-year-old veteran blue-line leaders Habscheid and Stahl as a result. Cougars forward Charles Inglis is sitting out a 10-game suspension for concussing sixth-round Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Stahl in a game at Prince George.