WHL Victoria Royals

Royals Shutout Hurricanes

Published on October 12, 2013 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Victoria Royals News Release


Victoria, BC - On a Friday night at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, the Victoria Royals took on the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the first game of a two-game series. The Royals gave Patrik Polivka his fourth consecutive start, while the Hurricanes answered with Christopher Tai.

The first frame started physically as both teams exchanged big hits right from the puck drop. With 3:46 left in the period, Lethbridge looked to strike first on the powerplay, but Royals' forward Brandon Fushimi turned the tables with a shorthanded goal. On a two-on-one rush, Fushimi made a nice toe drag move around the defenseman and beat Tai glove side. After 20 minutes, Victoria led 1-0.

The Royals added to their lead off of a tally from Joe Hicketts at 3:52 of the second. Logan Nelson found Hicketts at the top of the right circle before the defenceman one-timed a shot that beat the Hurricanes' goalie cleanly. Midway through the frame, Lethbridge forward Axel Blomqvist stepped off the right half wall and fired a quick shot on net, but Polivka snagged the puck out of the air with a timely glove save. The Hurricanes had three chances on the powerplay to end the period, but were held off the scoresheet by Victoria's penalty kill and the Royals headed into the second intermission leading 2-0.

While on a powerplay, Victoria increased their lead to three as Nelson notched his fourth of the season at 2:45. Hicketts feed to Nelson allowed him to split the defencemen in the high slot and finish with a hard wrist shot that beat Tai glove side. The Royals' powerplay produced again as Austin Carroll made it 4-0 at the 5:32 mark. Hicketts spotted Carroll alone in front of the net and the Scottsdale, AZ native made a nifty deke to record his fifth goal of the year. Polivka shut the door the rest of the way to hold record his second shutout of the campaign en route to a Royals win. Royals 4 Hurricanes 0.

Victoria went 2/7 28.6% on the powerplay, while Lethbridge went 0/7 0.0%. The Royals and Hurricanes each had 27 shots on net.

The Royals and Hurricanes will conclude their two-game set tomorrow evening at 7:05 p.m. Victoria will then welcome the Prince George Cougars to Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre for two weekday games. The first is scheduled for an afternoon start of 1:05 p.m. on Thanksgiving Monday.

We are Royal Blue, are you? 2013-14 season ticket, mini-plan and group packages are now available! To guarantee yourself the best seats at the best prices call 250-220-7889, visit www.victoriaroyals.com, or head down to the Victoria Royals Ticketing Office located at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

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Western Hockey League Stories from October 12, 2013


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