ROYALS COME BACK TO DEFEAT ROCKETS

Four goal third period gives Victoria a 7-5 victory over Kelowna.

For Immediate Release

Friday, October 14, 2011

Victoria, BC – The Victoria Royals faced the Kelowna Rockets Friday night in the first game of back-to-back clashes at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre between the BC Division rivals. Keith Hamilton started in goal for the Royals while the Rockets countered with Adam Brown.

The Royals struck first at 5:32 when forward Robin Soudek shoveled home a rebound in front of the Rockets’ net for his sixth goal of the season. Austin Carroll and Kevin Sundher picked up assists. Kelowna would get a pair of goals midway through the period as Spencer Main scored on a Rockets’ power play at 9:43 and Colton Heffley scored at 12:02 to give Kelowna a 2-1 lead. Soudek got the Royals back on even terms when Sundher fired a back-hand shot from the slot that bounced to Soudek along the left wing goal line and beat Brown for his second of the night and seventh of the season to tie the game 2-2 at 14:55. Jesse Lees would notch another Rockets’ power play goal at 16:43 to make it 3-2 Kelowna, which is how the score remained through 20 minutes of play. The Royals were out-shot 16-11 in the first period.

The Rockets increased their lead when Colton Sissons rifled a shot from the slot to make it 4-2 Kelowna at 4:35 of the second period. Myles Bell scored the Rockets’ third power play marker of the game at 6:42 for a 5-2 Kelowna lead. The Royals had a quick response at 8:35 when Jamie Crooks got control of the puck in the Rockets’ zone and fed a pass to the right wing side where Zane Jones wired his first WHL goal past Brown to cut the Rockets’ lead to 5-3. Hamilton came up with his best save of the game with 8:30 to play in the middle frame when Shane McColgan raced in alone on the Royals’ goaltender. McColgan fired a shot to the glove side that Hamilton snared to keep the Royals within two goals. The score remained 5-3 Rockets after two periods and both teams recorded eight shots in the middle frame.

The Royals opened the third period strong and were rewarded with the second goal of the game from Jones who intercepted a clearing attempt by Brown and quickly shot the puck from the right wing boards to make it 5-4 Kelowna. The Royals continued to put the heat on and while on the power play with 8:43 left in the third period, Jamie Crooks banged home a loose puck in front of Brown to tie the game 5-5. Soudek and Kade Pilton drew assists on Crooks’ sixth goal of the season. The Royals killed off a Rockets’ power play shortly after and Lukas Kralik, who served the penalty, rewarded his mates as he jumped out of the penalty box onto a loose puck at the Rockets’ blue line and beat Brown on a back hand move to give Victoria a 6-5 lead. Steven Hodges earned the only assist on the goal. The Rockets almost tied the game less than a minute later, but Hamilton made a difficult right pad save on Carter Rigby in the goal mouth to preserve the lead. Logan Nelson put the game away with an empty net goal with 52 seconds to play in regulation for his seventh tally of the season. Royals 7 Rockets 5.

The Royals’ victory improves the club’s record to 5-5-0-0. The Royals out-shot the Rockets 15-3 in the third period and 34-27 in the game. The Royals went 1-for-7 on the power play=14.3%, while the Rockets were 3-for-6=50%.