VICTORIA聽 6
REGINA聽 1
Name a road reference in literature or song 鈥� from Jack Kerouac or Willie Nelson to Roger Miller 鈥� and the Victoria Royals had it beat.
The Western Hockey League club swept all six games on its 5,000-plus-kilometre swing through Saskatchewan and Manitoba 鈥� no easy task 鈥� capping it with an emphatic 6-1 victory Saturday evening against the Pats (7-8-1) before 4,180 fans at the Brandt Centre in Regina.
Don鈥檛 look now, but the Royals (14-5-1), thought to be in a rebuilding year, now have the best record in the WHL.
鈥淥ur guys played with a purpose on the trip,鈥� said Victoria head coach Dave Lowry.
鈥淲hat I liked is that we took the games over, and we weren鈥檛 just hanging on at the end.鈥�
Jack Walker and Tyler Thompson led Victoria with two goals each Saturday, including one each on the power play, with the other goals coming from Jared Dmytriw and Matthew Phillips. Dmytriw finished with two points and Thompson three, while veteran forward Logan Fisher contributed two assists.
Rookie Griffen Outhouse, whose WHL debut was a shutout, made 22 saves in his second start for Victoria.
The Royals鈥� third goal chased Pats鈥� starter Tyler Brown from the crease at 4:15 of the second period. Brown and Jordan Hollett combined for 32 saves.
The Royals鈥� journey didn鈥檛 just end after the game, of course, as the team made its way through the prairie night on a bus finally pointed back to the Island.
All except Lowry and Royals defenceman Joe Hicketts. Both flew to Kelowna, where Lowry will head coach the WHL all-star team against the Russian Junior Selects on Monday while Hicketts will be assistant captain of the WHL team that night, with Brayden Point of the Moose Jaw Warriors captaining.
The second game of the WHL-Russia set is Tuesday night with Hicketts captaining in his hometown of Kamloops.
It is part of the selection process for the 2016 world junior championships at Helsinki, in which Lowry will head coach the Canadian team, with Hicketts almost a lock to patrol the blueline after winning gold with sa国际传媒 at the 2015 world juniors.
The special teams were again a factor in Victoria鈥檚 favour Saturday as its power play went 2-3 while its clamp-down, league-best penalty kill held Regina to 0-4.
As has happened with regularity on the road odyssey, the Royals swept the three-star awards, this time with Walker, Fisher and Thompson taking the game laurels.
鈥淲e played extremely well and did a lot of things right on this road trip,鈥� said Lowry, of going six-for-the-Prairies.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a credit to all of our players.鈥�
The Royals return to Blanshard Street for home dates Friday and next Saturday against the highly-regarded Seattle Thunderbirds.
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