Victoria Royals head coach Dan Price described the going in this season鈥檚 WHL Western Conference as heavy, physical and tough.
Saturday night鈥檚 game at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre lived up that description in a tight-checking affair between two teams without a lot of star power, but a lot of structure and discipline that seldom breaks down.
The Tri-City Americans prevailed 2-1 in a shootout over the Royals before 4,851 fans.
Over-age Tri-City forward Parker AuCoin opened scoring on an assist from fourth-round Anaheim Ducks draft-pick Kyle Olson on the power play at 10:23 of the first period. Phillip Schultz, who has twice represented Denmark in IIHF world junior championships, levelled for Victoria at 13:22 of the first period.
The weekend set Victoria won 5-2 on Friday was the first meeting between the Royals and Americans since their second-round playoff series last spring.
Only seven Americans players remain from that NHL-prospects loaded Tri-City team that swept Victoria before losing to Everett in the Western Conference final.
The Royals (25-20-3) seemed intent on washing away that memory, but the Americans (26-19-3) got the last word Saturday in the shootout.
The game featured two of the best undrafted veteran goaltenders in the WHL. Nineteen-year-old Tri-City starter Beck Warm, a Whistler native making his 44th appearance of the season, and 20-year-old Royals starter Griffen Outhouse, in his 36th聽appearance, were not so much overworked as they were there when needed for their teams with several timely saves.
Warm was busier with 33 saves to Outhouse鈥檚 24, although Outhouse got the first star nod on the night with Warm named third star.
The Royals continue with the American Division theme Tuesday and Wednesday with games against the Seattle Thunderbirds at the Memorial Centre followed by a visit to Spokane to play the Chiefs on Friday followed by a game against the Americans next Saturday at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Washington.
ICE CHIPS: Tri-City forward Krystof Hrabik returned to the Blanshard Street venue of the Czech Republic鈥檚 loss last month to the U.S. in the quarter-finals of the 2019 world junior championship. But the Hughes siblings, Quinn and Jack, will do that to you . . . Scott Walford, with 104 points, has become just the fourth Royals defenceman to reach the century plateau in career points. The Montreal Canadiens third-round draft pick joins Red Wings鈥� prospect Joe Hicketts, now in the AHL with Grand Rapids, Brandon Manning of the Edmonton Oilers (from when the franchise was located in Chilliwack), and L.A. Kings-drafted Chaz Reddekopp, who has played this season in the ECHL and AHL.
