It wasn鈥檛 the way you draw up your first game in a Victoria Royals jersey, but Victoria Royals netminder Joel Gryzbowski will chalk it up to a learning experience after the Royals fell 7-6 in a shootout to the last-place Edmonton Oil Kings in front of 3,791 fans on Valentine鈥檚 Day at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Suiting up for Victoria for the first time since a trade last month brought him west from the Saskatoon Blades, the 18-year-old Gryzbowski made 21 saves and one more in the shootout before former Kelowna Rockets sniper Tomas Soustal buried the last shot of the shootout to give the visitors the win.
鈥淎ny time you let in six goals in a game, you鈥檙e not going to be overly thrilled with yourself, but the team played well and there were a few unlucky bounces that resulted in goals. And we had a chance to win it in the end, so it wasn鈥檛 all bad,鈥� said Gryzbowski, who got the start while No. 1 netminder Griffen Outhouse was scratched to rest some nagging injuries.
Dean McNabb dressed as the backup as the Royals wanted to get a close look at their new goalie.
鈥淚 thought Joel did OK for his first game,鈥� said Royals head coach Dan Price.
鈥淗e had some bad bounces in front of him, but he also did a good job of handling the traffic in front of him because they really come hard to the net.鈥�
Gryzbowski has been playing for the Battlefords Northstars of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League since the trade and has an impressive 1.66 goals-against average with six shutouts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely faster up here. The players move faster, the puck moves faster so you always have to be on your toes,鈥� Gryzbowski said.
He really had to be on his toes whenever the veteran Soustal was on the ice. The 20-year-old winger scored twice, including with just 3:30 to go in regulation that gave the Oil Kings a 6-5 lead. But with Gryzbowski pulled for the extra attacker, Noah Gregor tipped a point shot past Oil Kings netminder Josh Dechaine to send the game to overtime.
The Royals鈥� vaunted power play was busy on the night, but could only cash in once on six chances, when Tanner Kaspick scored his second of the game early in the third to tie the game at 5-5.
鈥淓dmonton did a really good job of taking away the shooting lanes so we had to work hard to get inside, and fortunately we stayed patient on that last one and got the goal,鈥� said Price.
Tyler Soy opened the scoring just one minute into the game. Royals captain Matthew Phillips buried his 43rd of the season midway through the first to extend his point streak to 19 games. Kade Jensen had the other Royals goal.
Brayden Gorda, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Davis Murray and David Kope had the other Oil Kings goals.
The loss ended a run of nine straight wins by the Royals over the Oil Kings.
The Royals (34-20-3-2) didn鈥檛 lose any ground in their pursuit for first place in the sa国际传媒 Division as Kelowna lost 4-1 to the Red Deer Rebels, who will be in Victoria on Friday to face the Royals in the second of a five-game homestand for Victoria.i
