VICTORIA 5
SASKATOON 1
The Victoria Royals prefer to build from within.
They also have a few reclamation projects that are paying crucial dividends. It鈥檚 taken the keen eye of GM Cam Hope to find forwards Vladimir Bobylev, Alex Forsberg and Ethan Price, and the coaching of Dave Lowry to get the most out of them.
It was Bobylev to the fore Sunday with two goals in a 5-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Saskatoon Blades before 5,549 fans at SaskTel Centre.
鈥淗e is a big body who can skate,鈥� said Lowry, of the six-foot-two Russian, who was dropped last season by the Vancouver Giants, and scooped up by the Royals in the 2015 import draft.
鈥淎ll he needed was a new start.鈥�
He got one with the Royals and now leads the team in scoring.
Bobylev already has nine goals in 16 games this season for Victoria after recording just three goals in 52 games last season for Vancouver.
Also key to victory Sunday were a couple of in-house groomed Royals veterans Joe Hicketts and Coleman Vollrath. Defenceman Hicketts distributed like an ice version of Steve Nash and assisted on three of the Victoria goals. Goaltender Vollrath made 26 saves to earn third-star honours behind Hicketts and Bobylev. With the victory, the 61st of his career, Vollrath surpassed former Chilliwack Bruin Lucas Gore鈥檚 60 for the most career wins by a goalkeeper in the 10-year history of the Bruins-Royals franchise.
It鈥檚 telling of how dominant the Royals (10-5-1) were against the Blades (7-5-3) when the hometown selectors gave all three stars to Victoria.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a credit to how hard the guys have worked,鈥� said Lowry.
鈥淥ur primary focus from the start was on conditioning. And it鈥檚 for stretches like this.鈥�
Victoria, which has earned seven of a possible eight points in its last four games, is 2-0 on its current six-game, 5,000-kilometre road trip through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It began with a Bobylev goal in overtime that gave Victoria a 3-2 victory Friday in Prince Albert. It continues Tuesday in Swift Current, Wednesday in Moose Jaw, Friday in Brandon and Saturday in Regina.
Lowry again hearkened to the conditioning.
鈥淏ecause of it, we have been able to roll four lines,鈥� said the Victoria bench boss, who will guide sa国际传媒 at the 2016 world junior championships.
Forward Dante Hannoun, who assisted on Bobylev鈥檚 overtime winner in Prince Albert, scored his seventh goal of the season to get Victoria going in Saskatoon at 18:21 of the first period.
鈥淭he guys got off to a great start again,鈥� said Lowry.
Second-period goals by Bobylev, Ryan Peckford and Logan Fisher staked Victoria to a four-goal lead. Connor Gay finally solved Vollrath to get the Blades on the board at 58 seconds of the third period. But Bobylev put it beyond debate with his second goal at 9:58 of the third.
