VICTORIA 8
KELOWNA 3
It was like spending the day in Disneyland. At Christmas. After winning the lottery.
The Victoria Royals found out Wednesday they had cracked the Canadian Hockey League top-10 rankings at No. 5, and then went out and backed it up with a commanding 8-3 victory over the CHL No. 8 Kelowna Rockets, to move to 5-0 and set a new record for the best start to a WHL season in franchise history.
That was on top of the news from earlier in the day that forward Tyler Soy and defenceman Chaz Reddekopp are both being returned to junior with the Royals from the pro American Hockey League.
Two of Kelowna鈥檚 marquee talents 鈥� Flames second-round draft pick Dillon Dube and Canucks second-round selection Kole Lind 鈥� had staked the Rockets (2-1-1) to a 2-0 first-period lead before Victoria blew the doors off Prospera Place with six unanswered goals in the second period and seven unanswered total.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 say much in the first-period break. It was our leadership group that got it across to everybody in the room that we just had to stick to our processes,鈥� said Royals head coach Dan Price.
Price said nobody on the team is fixated on the top-10 ranking.
鈥淲e are not paying any attention to that. We are just focusing inward and on competing hard,鈥� he said. 鈥淭onight the team was rewarded for a good effort against a very difficult team in a difficult building.鈥�
Regan Nagy scored a hat-trick for Victoria. Dante Hannoun whipped home his seventh goal of the season and Ryan Peckford his sixth, the latter recording all those on the power play. Jared Legien logged a goal and two assists and Russian import Yan Khomenko notched his first two goals of the season. Matthew Phillips added three assists and now leads the WHL with 13 points with Legien and Hannoun right behind with 12 in a three-way tie for second with Nanaimo-product Patrick Bajkov of the Everett Silvertips.
The Royals鈥� league leading power play scored three more times to move its season total to 12.
The Royals head up to Kamloops for a Friday game against the reeling Blazers, who fell to 0-6 after Wednesday鈥檚 6-2 loss to the Prince George Cougars. Soy and Reddekopp are expected to meet the Royals in Kamloops, but it is unclear whether they will dress for the game.
鈥淲e鈥檒l see how they are and how they feel,鈥� said Victoria GM Cam Hope.
Reddekopp has been in the NHL and AHL training camps of the Los Angeles Kings and Ontario Reign and Soy in the NHL and AHL camps of the Anaheim Ducks and San Diego Gulls.
