Royals close out preseason with a win in Cowichan

Cowichan, B.C. — The Victoria Royals closed out their preseason this afternoon with an exciting 5-3 win against the Everett Silvertips in front of a crowd of dedicated fans at the Cowichan Community Centre.

Everett opened the scoring with a one-timer shot from Nolan Caffey at 8:05 of the first period. Victoria could not answer back in the first and Everett held the 1-0 lead going into the second.

Odin Vauhkonen put Victoria on the board with the equalizer goal at 6:37 of the second period, with assists from Hayden Moore and Ludovic Perrault. A goal from Heath Nelson, assisted by Caleb Matthews and Nolan Stewart, at 11:51 of the frame gave the Royals their first lead of the game.

Victoria’s lead was nearly extended by Perrault around the 14-minute mark of the second period, but his shot was narrowly met by the crossbar of the Everett net. After holding the Silvertips to only seven shots in the second period, the Royals maintained the 2-1 advantage after 40 minutes of play.

Around the halfway mark of the third period, Ashton Brown scored his second of the weekend, off a perfect setup from Hayden Moore and Ludovic Perreault. Layne Schofield quickly followed with a goal assisted by Daniel Morozov to give the Royals the three-goal lead. Everett’s Nolan Chatsko struck soon after to bring the score to 4-2, and a final-minute goal from Rhys Jameison brought the Silvertips within one with 30 seconds to play in the third period.

With the Royals outnumbered in skaters, Henry Peterson tipped the puck into the empty Everett net in the dying seconds of the game to secure the 5-3 win.

Regular season action commences this Friday, September 19th with the Royals’ home opener against the Penticton Vees at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The game is set for 7:05 PM and tickets are available for purchase on the Royals website or by calling 250-419-6906.