BLAZERS DROP 4-2 DECISION ON FAMILY DAY

By Colton Davies – Follow Colton on X

The Kamloops Blazers hosted the Victoria Royals for a 2:00 P.M. matinee game, Monday.

Victoria came out flying in the first period, striking twice in quick succession. Henry Peterson opened the scoring, sniping a shot five-hole past Blazers netminder Logan Edmonstone. Shortly after, Timofei Runtso doubled the lead with a point shot that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net.

Kamloops pushed back and nearly cut the deficit in half when Josh Evaschesen found space in front, but Royals netminder Ethan Eskit came up with a stop.

Moments later, Blazers defenceman Harrison Brunicke danced through a pair of Royals players before setting up Nathan Behm, who was robbed by Eskit.

The Blazers opened the second frame with a quick goal on the power play as the top unit went to work. Brunicke threaded a pass to Jordan Keller, who quickly found Nathan Behm, and he buried his 31st goal of the season to cut the deficit to one.

The Blazers momentum continued to swing their way, leading to a two-on-one with JP Hurlbert and Evaschesen but Eskit made the stop. The Royals countered with a two-on-one of their own, only to be denied by a brilliant stop from Edmonstone. Shortly after, Cooper Moore was sprung on a breakaway, but Eskit made a sprawling save to keep the Royals ahead by one going into the third period.

The third opened with pace as both teams traded chances going back and forth for the first five minutes. Kamloops would garner a power play around the 12:00 minute mark and the top unit would go to work as Tommy Lafreniere fired one past Eskit to tie the game at 2-2.

The Royals would regain the lead on a shorthanded marker, when Kamloops native Reggie Newman beat Edmonstone five hole to make it 3-2. Kamloops continued to apply pressure and nearly tied it up again when Keller fed a cross cease pass to Behm, but Eskit came up with another sprawling stop.

With 2:00 remaining, the Blazers pulled the netminder looking for the equalizer and came up short as Hayden Moore buried it into the empty net to seal the game 4-2.

Next up: Kamloops will host the Kelowna Rockets on Friday at 7:00 P.M.