The Western Hockey League鈥檚 barnstorming road show that is the Victoria Royals continues to astound, turning even more skeptics into believers.
The Royals (13-5-1) won their fifth consecutive game of a lengthy, 5,000-plus-kilometre, six-game swing through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Who they did it against Friday may have been the most impressive achievement of the run. The 4-1 victory before 4,578 fans at Westman Place came against the Brandon Wheat Kings (11-4-2), one of the elite teams favoured for the 2015-16 WHL championship.
Victoria has now earned 13 of a possible 14 points in its last seven games.
The Royals standout of the night Friday was 20-year-old goaltender Coleman Vollrath, with a 39-save performance. The only shot to beat him came off the stick of Russian defenceman and Philadelphia Flyers prospect Ivan Provorov, the seventh overall selection in the first round of the 2015 NHL draft.
鈥淥ur goalie was exceptional and gave us a chance to get our legs and get some timely scoring,鈥� said Royals coach Dave Lowry.
鈥淭he other side of the coin is that we gave up 40 shots and we want to tighten that up. We can鈥檛 rely on our goalie every night to be like that.鈥�
When Lowry put the crafty 20-year-old veteran Alex Forsberg on a line with a pair of diminutive but very fast 17-year-olds 鈥� Dante Hannoun and Matthew Phillips 鈥� he couldn鈥檛 have imagined the chemistry that would ensue.
The line was again productive as Forsberg scored to extend his team points lead to 22 while Hannoun scored for his team-leading 11th goal and Phillips picked up a goal, his seventh, and an assist.
鈥淭hose three feed off each other,鈥� said Lowry.
鈥淲hat the other two have learned from [Forsberg鈥檚 experience] is to be ready to play every night.鈥�
Tyler Soy, with his ninth, scored the other Royals goal as Victoria gave as good as it absorbed in putting 35 shots on Brandon goaltender Jordan Papimy. Joe Hicketts dished for two assists and is second in Victoria team scoring and also second in WHL scoring for a defenceman with one goal and 20 assists for 21 points.
The special teams weren鈥檛 a factor as Victoria went 0-1 on the power play, while its league-best penalty kill held Brandon to 0-2.
The Royals conclude their road odyssey tonight in Regina against the Pats (7-7-1).
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