Blazers lose 4-1 to the Royals
VICTORIA, B.C. — The Kamloops Blazers four-game win streak came to an emphatic end on Friday night, with a 4-1 loss to the Victoria Royals at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Royals came out of the gate fast and hard, and led 18-4 in shots after 20 minutes. Royals captain Joe Hicketts opened the scoring at 5:49 on a wrister from the right circle that squeaked past goalie Connor Ingram. Ingram made a number of tough saves and the Blazers killed two penalties despite an onslaught of Royals chances, but Kamloops couldn’t get their offense established after spending so much time in their own zone.
The Royals added to their lead at 7:34 of the second period thanks to a tally from Jack Walker. Alex Forsberg then made it 3-0 at 13:01, when he dove to tip in a Matt Phillips pass past Ingram. The Blazers’ best chance of the frame came on a partial breakaway early on by Collin Shirley with the game still at 1-0. With goalie Coleman Vollrath out to challenge, Shirley was unable to get the shot off he wanted, preserving Victoria’s lead.
Dante Hannoun would make it 4-0 Royals at 9:05 of the third; after Ingram had slid across the crease to his right to rob Forsberg, the rebound bounced right to Hannoun who had an open net to shoot at.