Royals comeback falls short in loss to Cougars
Victoria will wrap-up their three game road trip in Kamloops on Sunday
Forward Marcus Almquist collected his second goal of the weekend for the Victoria Royals in a 4-2 loss to the Prince George Cougars on Saturday at the CN Centre.
The Rodovre, Denmark product has been a consistent offensive presence for the club of late, recording six points (five goals, one assist) over his last eight games. Almquist has totalled 15 points on 11 goals and four assists this season.
Forward Reggie Newman also collected a goal for Victoria, while starting goaltender Nicholas Cristiano stopped 27 of 30 shots faced in the loss.
Forward Koehn Ziemmer was the top-scorer for the Cougars on Saturday, recording two goals–including the game-winner–while goaltender Tyler Brennan made 18 saves on 20 total shots.
Prince George (21-21-4-0) would open the scoring on a powerplay goal by forward Chase Wheatcroft (30) at the 5:13 mark of the first, giving them an early 1-0 lead.
The Cougars would double-up their lead before the end of the frame, with forward Caden Brown (13) striking at 19:01 of the period to give the Cougars a 2-0 advantage heading into the second.
However, Victoria (14-31-4-1) would pull back within one on a goal by Marcus Almquist (11) at the 5:15 mark of the second, with forward Tanner Scott and Luke Rybinski collecting the assists.
The 2-1 score would hold until the 5:14 mark of the third when Prince George forward Koehn Ziemmer (28) scored on a breakaway to increase his team’s lead to 3-1.
The Royals would push to tie the game late, with forward Reggie Newman (8) scoring at 9:19 of the third to cut the Cougars lead to 3-2. Forward Robin Sapousek would collect the lone assist on the goal.
However, Victoria would ultimately be unable to get the tying goal and Koehn Ziemmer would add an empty-netter for Prince George at 19:50 of the third to seal the 4-2 win.
Looking ahead, the Cougars will remain at home for their next contest against the Kelowna Rockets this Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, the Royals will wrap-up their three game road trip with a matchup against the Kamloops Blazers tomorrow night.
Puck-drop for that contest is set for 5 pm on Sunday, Feb. 5 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, BC.
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About the Victoria Royals
The Victoria Royals are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) owned and operated by GSL Group. The Royals play all their home games at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre and have entered their 12th season of their existence.
About Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre (SOFMC) is designed, constructed, developed and operated by GSL Group. SOFMC is Victoria’s premier entertainment facility and the largest arena in British Columbia outside Vancouver. The state-of-the-art 7,000 seat facility is home to the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League and regularly hosts large-scale concerts and other special events such as figure skating, curling, plays, trade shows and conferences. SOFMC also features a fine dining Lion’s Den Restaurant, as well as retail and meeting space.
