The Victoria Royals started 2020 the way they ended 2019 鈥� with a victory over a division rival.
Captain Phillip Schultz provided the game-winning goal early in the third period and veteran netminder Shane Farkas made 29 saves to pick up his first shutout of the season as the Royals edged the Vancouver Giants 1-0 in front of 4,458 fans on a New Year鈥檚 Day matin茅e at the Langley Events Centre.
With the victory, the Royals (20-12-2-0) move into second place in the sa国际传媒 Division, one point up on the Kelowna Rockets and six points clear of the Giants (17-16-1-1). Victoria also pushed its win streak to three games. The Giants, who beat the Royals last Friday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, had their three-game winning streak snapped.
After neither team could find the back of the net in the first 40 minutes, Schultz swatted a loose puck past David Tendeck in the Giants鈥� net just three minutes into the final period.
Twenty-year-old Farkas did the rest, making a couple of big saves late in the third while the Giants had Tendeck pulled for an extra attacker.
After an off day today, the Royals鈥� five-game sa国际传媒 Division road trip continues on Friday in Kelowna against the Rockets. Victoria then heads to Kamloops on Saturday to take on the Blazers, a team they beat on Monday to wrap up 2019. The Royals will then return to Kelowna to face the Rockets next Wednesday before returning home for back-to-back games against the Portland Winterhawks on Jan. 10 and 11 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Royals were 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Giants were scoreless on their lone man-advantage of the game. . . . Vancouver was again without star defenceman Bowen Byram as the Colorado Avalanche first-round draft pick is in the Czech Republic with Team sa国际传媒 at the world junior hockey championship.
