VICTORIA聽 5
PRINCE GEORGE聽 1
Tyler Soy returned to the Victoria Royals鈥� lineup in a huge way, recording a hat trick and adding an assist, as the hosts handed the Western Hockey League-leading Prince George Cougars a 5-1 setback on Tuesday night before a crowd of 5,285 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Matthew Phillips provided the spark early for Victoria, notching his 25th goal of the season as he cut across the grain to bury a shot behind Cougars netminder Ty Edmonds just 1:18 in. That extended his point-scoring streak to 10 games as the Calgary Flames draft pick now has 19 points, including nine goals over that stretch.
It was Soy who stole the show, returning from a 13-game absence due to injury. His second goal, at 15:05 of the middle frame, was a gem on a nifty move around Buffalo Sabres prospect Brendan Guhle to make it 3-1. Soy then upped the lead to 4-1, 28 seconds into the third, on a deft deflection.
It was his second hat trick of the season.
Could there be a more perfect return?
鈥淚 guess not, no. That was a great game, but I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates,鈥� Soy said.
鈥淲e played a great team game. All the lines were rolling and all the defence were going. Griff was making huge saves. It wasn鈥檛 just me out there, it was a whole team effort, for sure.鈥�
Griffen Outhouse was equally spectacular in goal for the Royals, stopping 42 shots as the two sa国际传媒 teams continued their post-Christmas tradition, meeting for the fifth straight year. Victoria has a 7-1-0-1 record in those post-seasonal confrontations.
That this victory came against the top team in the league and No. 6 CHL club in the country was not lost on Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
鈥淚 thought, for us, it was a great team game. I really liked the way we played, from start to finish,鈥� said Lowry, who was delighted to have his No. 1 centreman back.
鈥淚 think any time you can put your No. 1 centreman back in really helps your group and settles it down,鈥� Lowry added, with no disrespect to Dante Hannoun, who handled those duties while Soy was out.
Brad Morrison had the lone goal for the Cougars and Chaz Reddekopp also scored for Victoria while fellow Royals defenceman Scott Walford, who missed the last eight games due to injury, returned and recorded an assist on the second Soy goal.
The two teams meet again tonight at 7:05 at the same venue.
FROM THE THRONE: The Royals announced Tuesday that they have signed 1997-born goaltender Riley Mathieson (of the VIJHL鈥檚 Saanich Braves) to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. Mathieson, of Port Hardy, dressed as Outhouse鈥檚 backup as Dylan Myskiw nurses an injury.
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