VICTORIA聽 4
KELOWNA聽 1
Another night, another marquee WHL victory for the Victoria Royals.
The 4-1 decision Saturday in Kelowna, before 5,531 fans at Prospera Place, came in a match-up of the top two teams in the Western Conference.
The Royals defeated the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the top team in the Eastern Conference, 3-1 on Friday evening at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, then hopped on a ferry on Saturday morning and drove up the Coquihalla to meet the current best of the West.
Both Lethbridge and Kelowna are ranked in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll.
The Royals (31-15-5) will almost assuredly find themselves ranked in the CHL this week as they pushed their winning streak to five games while snapping the Kelowna (34-12-3) winning run at five games.
鈥淚t鈥檚 challenging playing the two top teams in the league back-to-back, but we can send a message if we play well,鈥� Royals freshman sniper Matthew Phillips said entering the weekend.
And that鈥檚 exactly what Phillips and the Royals did.
Phillips was key in Kelowna, scoring twice to up his Royals-team and WHL rookie goal-scoring total to 28 on the season.
The 17-year-old native of Calgary scored on the power play in the first period to tie the game after Justin Kirkland had given Kelowna the lead.
The undersized, but whiplash-inducing Phillips struck again with 18 seconds remaining in an ill-tempered second period that included a couple of fights.
One of those scraps featured Alex Forsberg of Victoria, who added to an eventful night with a goal and assist.
Tyler Soy capped the scoring with his 26th goal of the season while Jack Walker added two assists and Phillips finished with three points.
Coleman Vollrath made 22 saves in goal for Victoria and Comox-product Michael Herringer 30 for Kelowna.
The Royals return to Blanshard Street on Wednesday to face the Calgary Hitmen and former Royals defenceman and Calgary Flames NHL prospect Keegan Kanzig.
