Royals fall short against the Hurricanes
Victoria, BC. — The Victoria Royals took to the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre tonight to host the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a mid-week clash. Despite nearly coming back from a three-goal deficit in the third period, the Royals ultimately fell short with a final score of 4-3.
Seth Fryer opened the scoring with his first goal of the season, shot from the blue line in the first minute of the game and assisted by Roan Woodward and Reggie Newman. The Hurricanes tied the game with a goal from Kade Duell at 12:50 of the frame, and took the lead just over three minutes later with Duell’s second goal of the game. Lethbridge maintained the 2-1 lead headed into the first intermission.
The second period saw nearly eight minutes of consecutive play before the first stoppage. Despite the continuous play, neither team found the back of the net until the Hurricanes’ Luke Cozens took the two-goal lead just before the 17-minute mark of the period. Less than 30 seconds later, Hudson Kibblewhite further extended the Hurricanes’ lead, and the Royals trailed 4-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Reggie Newman struck early in the third period, netting his fourth goal of the season 14 seconds into the frame, with assists from Odin Vauhkonen and Hayden Moore. The Royals power play unit had a strong third period, with four shots on five attempts in a mid-frame man advantage and a power play goal from Roan Woodward at 11:50, assisted by Hayden Moore and Timofei Runtso. Despite outshooting the Hurricanes 17-3 in the third period and sending out the extra attacker for a 6-on-4 advantage in the final minutes of the frame, the Royals could not complete the comeback and fell with a final score of 4-3.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
0:50 Victoria Royals Goal
Seth Fryer (1) assisted by Roan Woodward and Reggie Newman
12:50 Lethbridge Hurricanes Goal
Kade Duell (3) assisted by Lukas Lima and Grady Pitchette
16:18 Lethbridge Hurricanes Goal
Kade Duell (4) assisted by Lukas Lima and Will Scott
2nd Period
16:57 Lethbridge Hurricanes Goal
Luke Cozens (14) assisted by Logan Wormald and Carsten Adair
17:26 Lethbridge Hurricanes Goal
Hudson Kibblewhite (8) assisted by Owen Berge and Will Scott
3rd Period
0:14 Victoria Royals Goal
Reggie Newman (4) assisted by Odin Vauhkonen and Hayden Moore
11:50 Victoria Royals Goal
Roan Woodward (14) assisted by Hayden Moore and Timofei Runtso
Shots on Goal
Royals – 32
Hurricanes – 23
Powerplay
Royals – 1/6
Hurricanes – 0/2
Goalie Stats
Royals
Ethan Eskit – 19/23
Hurricanes
Koen Cleaver – 29/32
What’s Next
Embarking on a US road swing, the Royals will play open their season series with the Seattle Thunderbirds at the Accesso Showare Center with puck drop set for 7:05 PM.
