Talent will win out is the adage. It did just that Tuesday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. Dallas Stars-prospect Logan Stankoven and Caedan Bankier showed why they are among the 13 Western Hockey League players named for the Canadian selection camp beginning Friday in Moncton, N.B., for the 2023 world junior championship starting Boxing Day in Halifax, N.S. and Moncton.
Goals by Stankoven and Minnesota Wild-prospect Bankier gave the Kamloops Blazers a 2-0 lead into the second break. Bankier then executed a spin-o-rama worthy of Serge Savard in setting up Logan Bairos for a third-period goal en route to a 3-0 victory over the Victoria Royals.
A Royals’ shot blocked by Stankoven in the second period could have altered sa国际传媒’s course in the 2023 world junior championship. Stankoven went off the ice favouring a leg and then had to be helped from the Kamloops Blazers bench to the dressing room. But sa国际传媒 fans could heave a sigh of relief when Stankoven returned for the third period, but seemed to be missing some of his usual swiftness and jump.
Stankoven opened scoring short-handed in the first period in combination with Kyle Masters on a deftly-taken two-on-one goal. Stankoven, who won gold with sa国际传媒 in the 2022 world junior championship and a lock for the 2023 world junior side, was named WHL player of the week and has three goals and 10 points in his last four games and a 20-game point streak. The Stars-signed hometown Kamloops product Stankoven is the defending WHL and CHL MVP.
Meanwhile, you know a season isn’t going well when the home fans give their team the Bronx cheer. A portion of the small crowd in the Memorial Centre let out the sarcastic cheer when the Royals got their first shot on goal in the second period eight minutes in, which was just their third shot of the game.
The first period was absolute domination by the Blazers, who outshot Victoria 14-2, although the Royals hit the post in the first minutes. The Royals picked up the pace in a spirited third period to make Dylan Ernst earn his 17-save shutout.
“Fans pay good money and they are not getting their money’s worth if we only play one period,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price.
Price described Victoria’s first two periods as “soft and sloppy” before his team came out in the third and “played like men.”
Price blamed himself: “That’s on the coach to get the team prepared and we only played 20 minutes tonight and I only did one-third of my job.”
With goaltender Tyler Palmer away without explanation amid speculation he has asked for a trade — the Royals have listed it vaguely as a “personal leave” — the team traded for goalie Nicholas Cristiano from the Kelowna Rockets. The six-foot-one Cristiano was given his fourth consecutive start and was very good in facing 32 shots.
The Blazers, hosting the 2023 Memorial Cup in the spring, moved to 14-5-5. Reeling Victoria (3-21-3) has just one point to show over its last 12 games. The Blazers sit atop the sa国际传媒 Division and have earned nine of a possible 10 points over their last five games. The Royals, already 13 points adrift of a playoff berth, have six games remaining before the Christmas break.
The Blazers and Royals meet again tonight in the Memorial Centre.
