To date, the Victoria Royals had unloaded their weaponry on all Western Hockey League opponents, but that changed on this night as head coach Dan Price鈥檚 troops suffered their first setback of the season. The hosts fell to 7-0-1-0 after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Tri-City Americans before an announced crowd of 4,811 at Save-on-Foods Memorlal Arena.
Nanaimo product Dylan Coghlan scored his second goal of the game, on a power play 1:12 into the extra session, for the game-winner. Detroit Red Wings first-round pick Michael Rasmussen tied it at 4-4 on a power play with 1:03 remaining in the third for the visitors.
The Royals jumped up from last week鈥檚 No. 5 seed after previously being unranked. That ranking might require a little asterisk as five of the eight wins have come against Kamloops and Vancouver, two teams who have a combined record of 2-12-0-1.
Or as one veteran press box observer stated: 鈥淚t鈥檚 October. Being ranked No. 1 is like being the best looking guy at the bar at 7 p.m. It鈥檚 early.鈥�
But the record also includes impressive victories over Kelowna 鈥� an honourable mention in the rankings at 4-1-0-1 鈥� and the Americans, who are expected to make some noise this season, despite their current 4-4-0-0 log.
This is the first time in Royals history that the club is ranked No. 1 nationally. Previous highs were fifth, recorded both last week and last February.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice recognition for a good start, but it鈥檚 just the second mile of the marathon,鈥� said Royals GM Cam Hope.
On this night, veteran Regan Nagy scored twice to pace the locals, who were badly outplayed in the first half of the game, but down just 1-0.
Coghlan opened the scoring just 6:18 into the game as he roofed a shot over goalie Griffen Outhouse as the Royals were on their heels early. Out-shot 19-6 in the first period, the hosts were fortunate not to be down by more. They were out-shot 46-27 overall.
鈥淭he tentative start, for me I don鈥檛 think it was playing not to lose, it was more just needing to be a little quicker and stronger on pucks, especially against a team that was coming out desperate like Tri-City was,鈥� said Price, whose team now heads out on a two-week road trip beginning Friday night in Spokane.
Matthew Phillips tied it at 12:04 of the second with a power-play effort as his redirection trickled by goalie Beck Warm. Nagy then gave Victoria the 2-1 lead on a short-handed 2-on-1 with Dante Hannoun, who appeared in his 200th WHL game.
Salt Spring Island鈥檚 Jordan Topping knotted it at 2-2 before Nagy and Connor Bouchard traded third-period markers. Igor Martynov gave Victoria its third one-goal lead at 12:26 in a game the Royals likely didn鈥檛 deserve to win.
Tri-City was 3-for-7 on the man advantage, while Victoria was 2-for-5 on the power play.
