One of the mysteries in the Western Hockey League is how Victoria Royals goaltender Griffen Outhouse went undrafted by the NHL and has failed to follow up with much apparent free-agent pro interest.
Perhaps the most mystified are the Vancouver Giants, who will be happy to see the last of Outhouse after this season.
As he has done so many times in his Royals career, the 20-year-old stymied the Giants with 28 saves in a 3-1 victory before 3,078 fans Sunday at the Langley Events Centre.
鈥淢y instinct is that NHL teams will be interested in getting [Outhouse] signed,鈥� predicted Royals head coach Dan Price.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my gut feeling and I don鈥檛 think Griffen will go into next season without a pro contract. He has shown himself not only to be in the top tier of WHL goalies, but also as a pro candidate.鈥�
The Royals play Vancouver more than any other team, with 10 games scheduled annually in the cross-strait derby, so Outhouse has seen plenty of Giants pucks coming his way over four seasons. He has parried most of them, with two saves in particular in the third period Sunday to surely be rated up there with the best of them in his personal Giants-killing highlight reel. Outhouse went post-to-post twice in the final frame, once in each direction, to take away what looked to be sure goals by Milos Roman and Davis Koch.
鈥淸Outhouse] was dialed in,鈥� said Price.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 face a ton of shots, but he made great saves at timely moments.鈥�
Defenceman Dylan Plouffe beat Outhouse at 5:03 of the first period but that would be all the native of Likely, sa国际传媒, was about to surrender as he held the Giants at bay the rest of the afternoon.
鈥淚t was a good defensive effort by both teams,鈥� said Price.
Vancouver goaltender Trent Miner also made several nervy saves against the pressing Kaid Oliver, D-Jay Jerome and Dino Kambeitz in a 23-save performance that earned Miner second-star status behind Outhouse.
鈥淢iner made some good saves to earn being named one of the stars of the game,鈥� noted Price.
Royals forward Phillip Schultz, expected to represent Denmark in the 2019 world junior championship tournament in Victoria and Vancouver, did the heavy lifting to feed Logan Doust for his first career WHL goal at 7:43 of the first period to tie the contest 1-1. Jerome, combining with Oliver, scored his 11th goal of the season at 13:12 of the first to give Victoria a 2-1 lead.
With Miner pulled for an extra attacker, and Victoria short-handed with two penalties in the final two minutes of the third period, Outhouse made a game-saving glove save off Tristan Nielsen in the waning moments on a hairy six-on-three skaters advantage for Vancouver. Kambeitz intercepted a Vancouver crossing pass and launched the puck the length of the ice for an empty-net goal with 13 seconds remaining.
The Giants lead the sa国际传媒 Division at 14-6-2 with the Royals second at 12-6.
Although Outhouse allowed only one goal the night before, he wasn鈥檛 the major factor with 17 saves in the 2-1 victory over the Regina Pats on Blanshard Street. It was game third-star Max Paddock of Regina who was the main crease story that night with 26 saves.
Outhouse鈥檚 weekend of work saw him go to 11-4 with a league top-10 goals-against average of 2.49.
The Royals are at Kelowna to play the Rockets on Friday and back in Langley to face the Giants again Saturday before hosting the Saskatoon Blades on Nov. 28 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
