Victoria, BC (CKLQ) – The Victoria Royals snapped a two-game losing streak on Saturday night with a 3-1 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Saturday’s game got off to a chippy start as Jonny Lambos and Brandon Cutler dropped the mitts just 1:56 into the game. Both teams played a physical first period with plenty of big hits and post-whistle scrums.
Brandon opened the scoring on the powerplay as Stelio Mattheos snapped his 13th of the season past Griffen Outhouse. Mattheos now has 7 powerplay goals this year.
With Mattheos stepping out of the penalty box, the Royals drew even. After Jiri Patera made a sprawling save, the puck bounced to the front of the net and Kaid Oliver poked it over the line for his 8th of the season.
After a scoreless 2nd, the Royals got their first lead of the game, midway through the third period.
Kaid Oliver notched his 2nd of the night on a backhand shot from the bottom of the circle that eluded Patera. Oliver was named the game’s first star.
Brandon would have an excellent opportunity to tie the game late in the third on a powerplay with the goalie pulled. However, the Royals won the faceoff and iced the game into the empty net.
The loss is the fourth in a row for the Wheat Kings and drops them to 0-2-1-0 on this West Coast road trip.
The Wheat Kings will look to get back into the win column on Sunday afternoon when they take on the Vancouver Giants. (6:00 MB time on QCountry Radio).
SCORING SUMMARY
1st PERIOD
BWK – Stelio Mattheos (13) (Wytinck, Gutenberg) 14:50 PPG
VIC – Kaid Oliver (8) (Jerome, Fizur) 19:53
Shots: 12-6 Victoria
2nd PERIOD
No Scoring
Shots: 16-6 Brandon
3rd PERIOD
VIC – Kaid Oliver (9) (Martynov, Prowse) 9:46
VIC – Ralph Jarrett (2) (Kambeitz) 19:33 SHG (EN)
Final Shots – 29-29
