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WHL Kamloops Blazers

Blazers Dropped 4-1 By Royals

February 20, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kamloops Blazers News Release


The Kamloops Blazers four-game win streak came to an emphatic end on Friday night, with a 4-1 loss to the Victoria Royals at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

The Royals came out of the gate fast and hard, and led 18-4 in shots after 20 minutes. Royals captain Joe Hicketts opened the scoring at 5:49 on a wrister from the right circle that squeaked past goalie Connor Ingram. Ingram made a number of tough saves and the Blazers killed two penalties despite an onslaught of Royals chances, but Kamloops couldn't get their offense established after spending so much time in their own zone.

The Royals added to their lead at 7:34 of the second period thanks to a tally from Jack Walker. Alex Forsberg then made it 3-0 at 13:01, when he dove to tip in a Matt Phillips pass past Ingram. The Blazers' best chance of the frame came on a partial breakaway early on by Collin Shirley with the game still at 1-0. With goalie Coleman Vollrath out to challenge, Shirley was unable to get the shot off he wanted, preserving Victoria's lead.

Dante Hannoun would make it 4-0 Royals at 9:05 of the third; after Ingram had slid across the crease to his right to rob Forsberg, the rebound bounced right to Hannoun who had an open net to shoot at.

The Blazers broke Vollrath's shutout bid late thanks to a powerplay goal at 16:22 of the third from Matt Needham. The Blazer captain finished off a nice passing play on a feed from Jiri Smejkal to make it 4-1, which would stand as the final score.

The Blazers were outshot 39-26 by the Royals, but led 22-21 in combined shots in the second and third frames. Kamloops went 1-2 on the powerplay, while Victoria went 0-3 on the night.

With the win, the Royals (39-16-3-3) remain one point back of the Kelowna Rockets for top-spot in the B.C. Division. For the Blazers (27-23-5-3), they remain fourth in the B.C. Division and hold on to a Western Conference wild-card spot.

Blazers Head Coach Don Hay will have to wait at least one more night for his 200th win behind the team's bench, as his group continues a stretch of three road games in three nights.

The team's will meet again in Victoria on Saturday for their eighth and final meeting of the season. Puck drop is 7:05pm at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

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