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WHL Victoria Royals

Royals Toss Hurricanes on Teddy Bear Night

December 10, 2011 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Victoria Royals News Release


Victoria, BC - In a Friday night matchup at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre the Victoria Royals took on the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the team's inaugural Teddy Bear Toss game. The Royals gave Keith Hamilton the start in net, while the Hurricanes countered with Liam Liston.

The Royals looked to set the tone early after Zane Jones caught Tyler Kizuik with a hit in the neutral zone, but it was the Hurricanes who got on the scoreboard first. Adam Henry received a pass to the right of the net and fed Juraj Bezuch who beat the outstretched blocker of Hamilton. With less than five minutes remaining in the frame, Hurricanes' defenseman Daniel Johnson threw the puck towards the net and it was tipped by Jaimen Yakubowski into the net past Hamilton. The teddy bears would rain down from the Save-On-Foods Memorial faithful after Victoria cut into the lead with under two minutes left in the frame. Royals' forward Ben Walker circled into the slot and wired a shot that deflected off Zane Jones past Liston. The Royals tied the game 46 seconds later when Kevin Sundher converted a Jamie Crooks pass into the net for his team leading 20th marker of the season. The teams went into the second period knotted up 2-2.

Victoria scored their third unanswered goal early into the middle frame off of Sundher's second of the night. Jones skated around the net and put the puck through the crease for Sundher who quickly shot it past Liston to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Just before the 10 minute mark the Hurricanes tied the game with a shorthanded goal after Brady Ramsay intercepted a pass in the slot and fired it past the blocker of the Victoria goaltender. A minute later Lethbridge regained the lead off a man-advantage when Jay Merkley fired a shot into the net from the top of the left circle. Jamie Crooks brought the Royals even again when he grabbed a rebound in the slot and shot it past an out of position Liston. Brody Sutter would respond for Lethbridge after he banged in a pass from Graham Hood with five minutes remaining. With the final seconds ticking off the clock, Victoria's Hayden Rintoul threw a shot on net that alluded Liston, but it was two tenths of a second late and did not count. The Hurricanes led 5-4 after 40 minutes of play.

The Royals started the third period on the power play and were able to tie the game up off of Crooks' second of the game. From the point Rintoul fed a pass to Sundher who sent a cross-ice pass to Crooks to finish off the tic-tac-toe play. Victoria jumped in front 31 seconds later when Brandon Magee crashed the net for his own rebound and slid it through the legs of Liston. Just over two minutes later Crooks completed the hat trick after he snapped a shot from the left circle over the right shoulder of Liston. The Hurricanes' Liston was replaced by Damien Keito after the seventh marker. With nine minutes gone in the period, Victoria's Steven Hodges broke in on a shorthanded breakaway, but was hooked on the play which resulted in a penalty shot. On the ensuing shot, Hodges faked a shot and then roofed the puck over the glove of Keito. Royals 8 Hurricanes 5.

Victoria went 1/3 33.3% on the power play, while Lethbridge was 1/7 14.3%. The Hurricanes outshot the Royals 31-26.

Victoria will now travel to Seattle to take on the Thunderbirds tomorrow night. Game time is at 7:05 p.m. The next home game for the Royals will come after the Christmas break when they welcome the Calgary Hitmen on Tuesday, January 3rd. Game time is at 7:05 p.m. For further details or to purchase your tickets today, visit the Victoria Royals Ticket Office, www.victoriaroyals.com, or call 250-220-7889.

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