VICTORIA聽 6
RED DEER聽 2
Ron MacLean, in town for today鈥檚 Rogers Hometown Hockey NHL pre-game broadcast from the Inner Harbour, quipped that it would be nice to see the Victoria Royals continue rolling in the WHL, 鈥渂ut not against Red Deer.鈥�
Those upstart Royals just won鈥檛 listen.
Victoria defeated the Rebels 6-2 on Saturday in Red Deer, where the famed broadcaster MacLean spent his formative years.
The Rebels are hosting the 2016 Memorial Cup and have loaded up with seven NHL-drafted players.
The Royals have only one in Chaz Reddekopp, although fellow-blueliner Joe Hicketts was signed by the Red Wings as a free agent.
鈥淲e are out to earn respect every night,鈥� said Victoria coach Dave Lowry.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a lot of NHL-drafted players, but our guys are out to prove people wrong.鈥�
They seem to be doing just that with the second-best record in the league behind divisional-rival Kelowna.
The Royals are ranked No. 6 in the CHL top-10 poll, the highest rating for any WHL team. Victoria is the winningest team in the WHL in the calendar year 2016 at 19-4-3 since Jan. 1 and 42-16-6 overall.
It is only the second time the franchise has reached the 40-win plateau in the 10-season history of the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals.
With eight games remaining, this team is tracking the all-time franchise record of 48 wins set by Lowry鈥檚 2013-14 Royals.
Both Victoria, which won its fifth consecutive game, and Red Deer (37-22-3), have clinched playoff berths.
Red Deer twice looked to get the lift it needed before 5,632 home boosters in the Enmax Centrium. Michael Spacek tied the game 1-1 on the power play late in the first period and 20-year-old captain Luke Philp tied it 2-2 in the second period on a short-handed goal from an acute angle.
鈥淲e stayed with the game tonight and did not get discouraged with any setback,鈥� said Lowry.
Hicketts scored twice, once into an empty net, in a four-goal Victoria third period. Tyler Soy scored the winner at 3:35 for his Royals-leading 37th goal.
Jack Walker, on a three-point night, and Alexander Bobylev also had goals.
So did Matthew Phillips for his 34th. The night before, in the 6-2 victory in his hometown Calgary, Phillips broke the Victoria Royals/Chilliwack Bruins franchise record for most goals by a rookie. He had been tied at 32 with former Bruin and now KHL pro Oscar Moller.
Despite having only one point Saturday, Soy was plus-four on the night.
鈥淸Soy] is a very good player with or without the puck,鈥� said Lowry.
Coleman Vollrath was required to make just 15 saves in another clampdown Royals performance. Victoria put 31 shots on Red Deer.
It was the final hometown regular-season game for Royals graduating forward and Red Deer-native Logan Fisher.
The Royals continue their Alberta road trip Monday in Edmonton.
