Giants at Royals Nov 4 and 5

[CdnSailor]

2 1
Game Highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSLvTM4k8AM

1st Period

Royals 1st goal by Robin Soudek 1:42

2nd Period

Giants 1st goal by Cain Franson 3:08
Royals 2nd goal by Brendan Persley 3:33

3rd Period

No Goals

Attendance
6601

SHOTS 1 2 3 Total
Vancouver Giants 8 10 16 34
Victoria Royals 7 8 11 26

3 Stars
1. VIC - 30 Keith Hamilton
2. VIC - 9 Kevin Sundher
3. VAN - 12 Cain Franson

Game Summary
http://www.whl.ca/schedule/show/game/59572

[CdnSailor]

By Cleve Dheensaw, timescolonist.com November 4, 2011 10:34 PM


The Victoria Royals took Friday’s 1980s theme night to heart and did a pretty decent job of emulating some Victoria Cougars WHL stars from that era.

Especially goaltender Keith Hamilton, who made like Grant Fuhr with a 33-save performance to backstop the Royals to a 2-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Vancouver Giants before 6,061 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

Forward Kevin Sundher, who could be the Royals’ version of early 1980s Cougar-vintage Barry Pederson, led the offence with two assists as Victoria moved to 10-7-1 overall and 6-1-1 at home.

“We play well here,” said Sundher. “The energy is unbelievable and we feed off it. It’s fun to win games like that.”

That would be old-school, low-scoring games.

“The guys played well and blocked a lot of shots for me,” said Hamilton, named first star of the night while Sundher was selected second star.

“I could see the puck.”

But there were plenty of close calls.

“It was one of those nights where the bounces were going your way,” added Hamilton. “It’s good to have one of those nights.”

Royals forward Robin Soudek, ever-opportunistic like former Cougar Geoff Courtnall, made it 1-0 with his 12th goal of the season at 16:51 of the first period. The goal was set up by a crafty back-handed assist from Sundher.

The Giants scored a breakaway goal by Cain Franson at 2:35 of the second period. But the Royals regained the lead just 20 seconds later through Brendan Persley’s first goal of the season, which held up to be the winner.

“We owed these guys [Giants],” said Sundher.

“They took it to us a few times this season in Vancouver.”

Indeed, the Royals are

2-0 at home against the Giants but 0-3 in Vancouver.

The Vancouver defence, anchored by Nanaimo-native Neil Manning and six-foot-three Edmonton Oilers second-round draft pick David Musil, did a good job of keeping the Victoria offence at bay although the Royals mustered just enough to win.

“We grunted it out,” said Sundher.

The Royals forced Vancouver goaltender Adam Morrison into 22 saves and would like to see the opposition goaltender busier than that.

“There wasn’t too much room to move,” added Sundher.

“I’ll have to see the video to see how we can combat that and find some holes [in the Giants defence].”

The Victoria defenders, backed by Hamilton’s staunch netminding, countered well and were effective in containing the Giants’ Brendan Gallagher, the diminutive but shifty fifth-rounder who made quite the impact at Montreal Canadiens training camp this fall.

“You have to be aware when he’s on the ice,” said Hamilton.

“He goes to the net hard every time and you have to be ready for him.”

Which the Royals will need to be again tonight at the Memorial Centre as they close out the two-game set against their B.C. Division rival Vancouver (9-8-1).

Then a definite Alberta state of mind pervades the Memorial Centre next week as the Edmonton Oil Kings make their lone appearance on Tuesday followed by the Red Deer Rebels next Saturday and Sunday.



Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/Royals+...#ixzz1co9K1Rsj

[pontcanna]

Overall, a split over the weekend games was probably the just result. I said that this weekend would be a good test for attendance, and with a sellout tonight and 6000+ last night, I think that question has been answered, at least for now.

Not much to choose between the teams over five periods of hockey, but the Giants were clearly superior in the third period tonight. Those guys play (wait for it) "Tenacious D". We just couldn't get open and shots had to go through what felt like tons of Vancouver players. Odd-man rushes? Forget it. Hamilton couldn't keep being a miracle worker and can't be blamed for the loss. Not sure what Rintoul did to get booted with a misconduct, I suspect frustration just began to boil over, but it was bad timing/discipline on his part. Gallagher was always a threat and an interesting guy to watch. Sundher's opening goal was a bit of a howler (look for the video later) and we could have used a few more good bounces like that one.

[CdnSailor]

5 3

Game Highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29_7ECaABAY

1st Period

Royals 1st goal by Kevin Sundher 0:45
Giants 1st goal by Brendan Gallagher 0:55

2nd Period

Giants 2nd goal by Brendan Gallagher (PP) 1:38
Royals 2nd goal by Kevin Sundher 2:08
Royals 3rd goal by Robin Soudek 2:45

3rd Period

Giants 3rd goal by Marek Tvrdon 3:35
Giants 4th goal by Austin Vetterl 3:45
Giants 5th goal by Cain Franson 3:38

Attendance
7006 Sellout

SHOTS 1 2 3 Total
Vancouver Giants 6 13 13 32
Victoria Royals 7 13 4 26

3 Stars
1. VAN - 11 Brendan Gallagher
2. VIC - 9 Kevin Sundher
3. VAN - 17 Marek Tvrdon


Game Summary
http://www.whl.ca/schedule/show/game/59582

[pontcanna]

No sweep for Royals

BY CLEVE DHEENSAW, TIMES COLONIST NOVEMBER 5, 2011 10:22 PM

It’s the Western Hockey League version of A Chorus Line.

Every time Kevin Sundher of the Victoria Royals and Brendan Gallagher of the Vancouver Giants step onto the ice now, they are auditioning.

The two flash-quick forwards are being considered for the Canadian team for the 2012 world junior hockey championships that begin next month in Alberta.

But forget about mere auditions. These guys were true show-stoppers Saturday night, each scoring twice as the Giants defeated the Royals 5-3 to send both clubs to 10-8-1 in the B.C. Division.

“Sundher has had a great start to the season and has put himself on the radar,” said Giants head coach Don Hay, who will coach Canada in the world juniors.

“And Brendan [Gallagher] is what our [Giants] team identity is all about. He is tenacious on the puck and plays hard every night.”

Sabres third-round draft pick Sundher, third in league scoring with 36 points, gave Victoria the lead with an opportunistic power-play counter at 17:03 of the first period. But it didn’t take long for Gallagher, maybe the steal of that 2010 draft in the fifth round by the Montreal Canadiens, tied it for Vancouver 16 seconds later with a laser to the top corner for his 15th goal

in 15 games.

Gallagher terrorized the Royals penalty-kill unit for his 16th goal, and second of the night, with perhaps the move of the year in the Memorial Centre at 2:54 of the second period. But Sundher struck 40 seconds later with his second of the game to equalize 2-2 as the two emerging stars took command of this stage.

Royals forward Robin Soudek, on a power-play feed from the corner by Brandon Magee, made it 3-2 at 13:31 of the second period with his 13th goal of the season. Vancouver, however, responded with a trey of third-period goals by Marek Tvrdon, Austin Vetterl and Cain Franson to win it.

“It was disappointing,” said Sundher.

“We had a chance to sweep our division and main rival [following Friday’s 2-1 Victoria win] with a 3-2 lead going into the third period tonight and we don’t show up. That’s unacceptable.”

Maybe the biggest story of the season for the Royals — attendance — continued apace Saturday with a capacity crowd of 7,006 that enhanced Victoria’s standing as the third-best draw in the WHL so far this season behind only Calgary and Kelowna and seventh best overall among the three major-junior hockey leagues.

“It was a great atmosphere and felt like a playoff-type game,” said Hay.

Sundher concurred.

“This city is awesome and we cherish any chance to play in this building,” said the Surrey native.