Royals wrap-up Okanagan road trip with loss to Kamloops
Victoria will return home to host the Vancouver Giants this Wednesday
Victoria Royals defenceman Kalem Parker recorded his third goal of the season in a 6-1 loss to the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday.
The Clavet, SK native leads all Royals’ defencemen in scoring this year and ranks fourth on the team with 15 total points on three goals and 12 assists in 30 games this season.
Starting goaltender Nicholas Cristiano stopped 22 of 27 shots faced before being replaced by backup Logan Cunningham to start the third. Cunningham made seven saves on eight shots for the remainder of the contest.
Forward Daylan Kuefler was the top scorer for Kamloops on Saturday, recording four assists.
The Blazers also benefited from a strong game from forward Matthew Seminoff, who tallied a goal and an assist while starting goaltender Dylan Ernst made 28 saves on 29 shots.
Kamloops (16-6-3-2) would jump out to a 1-0 lead early in the first period on a goal by forward Fraser Minten (11) at the 10:36 mark.
That would be followed by another goal from the Blazers, this time off the stick of forward Ashton Ferster (3) at 17:06 to bring the lead to 2-0 entering the second.
Kamloops would continue to grow their lead in the middle frame, with forward Shea Van Olm (4) scoring at 1:56 and forward Matthew Seminoff (12) striking at the 3:17 mark to put the Blazers up 4-0.
Blazers defenceman Kyle Masters (4) would add one more before the end of the frame, bringing the lead to 5-0 at the 9:23 mark.
The beginning of the third period would see Kamloops extend their lead to 6-0 on a goal by forward Emmitt Finnie (3) at the 4:42 mark.
However, Victoria (5-22-3-0) would eventually break the shutout with a goal by defenceman Kalem Parker at 10:18 of the final frame, with the assists going to forwards Carter Dereniwsky and Brayden Schuurman.
That is as close as Victoria would get, and time would expire with Kamloops taking home the 6-1 victory.
Looking ahead, the Blazers will take the next five days off before travelling north for a pair of road games against the Prince George Cougars next weekend.
The Royals, meanwhile, will return to the Island to host the Vancouver Giants this Wednesday night before welcoming the Tri-City Americans to town for a two-game weekend set on Friday, Dec. 16 and Saturday, Dec. 17.
Puck drop for the first game of the week is set for 7:05 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 14 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria. Tickets are available at selectyourtickets.com.
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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.
