WHL Victoria Royals

Royals Thump Thunderbirds

Published on October 29, 2011 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Victoria Royals News Release


Victoria, BC - The Victoria Royals entertained the Seattle Thunderbirds Saturday night at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for the third of four games between the Western Conference rivals. The Royals started Keith Hamilton in goal against Calvin Pickard for the Thunderbirds.

Royals' forward Kevin Sundher, like he had done the night before, opened the scoring just 61 seconds into the game. Sundher picked up a loose puck in the slot and fired a wrist shot past Pickard's blocker hand for his eighth goal of the season. Robin Soudek and Brandon Magee collected the assists. The Thunderbirds responded on the power play with a goal from Branden Trook at 3:59 to tie the game 1-1. Victoria took the lead back when Sundher notched his second of the night on the power play. Sundher took the puck off the right wing boards into the slot and wired a wrist shot past Pickard to put the Royals in front 2-1. Soudek and Hayden Rintoul earned assists on Sundher's ninth of the season. Victoria took that one goal lead to the dressing room and were out-shot 14-8 in the first period.

The Royals notched another power play tally 2:25 into the second period to go ahead 3-1. Forward Steven Hodges came off the right wing boards in the Seattle zone and ripped his seventh goal past Pickard low to the glove side. Brett Cote and Zane Jones earned assists on the goal that extended Hodges' point streak to six games. Victoria went on another power play shortly after and Sundher picked up his first WHL hat-trick for a 4-1 Royals' lead at 3:06 after a scramble around the Seattle net. Soudek picked up his third assist and Magee earned his second helper of the night. Soudek then picked up his fourth point when he let a shot go from the high slot that beat Pickard glove side for his eleventh goal of the season and a 5-1 Royals' lead at 6:51. Hayden Rintoul got credit for the lone assist that chased Pickard from the Seattle net and was replaced by Daniel Cotton. The Royals cashed in on another power play at 8:53 when Rintoul fired a one-time shot from the blue line past Cotton for his sixth goal of the year and a 6-1 lead. The goal came on a 5-on-3 man advantage with assists to Sundher and Jamie Crooks. Victoria took that five goal lead to the second intermission and out-shot Seattle16-7 in the period.

Sundher tacked on his fourth goal of the game as he tipped the puck past Cotton off a shot from Soudek at 4:58, to make it the first five point game for both players in their WHL careers. Jesse Zgraggen also had an assist on the goal to make it 7-1 Victoria. Although Seattle scored a pair of goals late, the Royals cruised to their ninth win of the season. Royals 7 Thunderbirds 3.

The Royals out-shot the Thunderbirds 9-6 in the third period and 33-27 in the game. Victoria went 4-for-9 on the power play44.4%. Seattle went 1-for- 425.0%. The game was played in front of 4,858 fans.

The Royals will continue their seven game home stand with a pair of games against the Vancouver Giants on November 4 and 5. Puck drop for both games is 7:05pm. For further details or to purchase your tickets today, visit the Victoria Royals Ticket Office, www.victoriaroyals.com, or call 250-220-7889.

Check out the Victoria Royals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from October 29, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central