Victoria loses to Kelowna 5-2; rematch tomorrow night.

Victoria, BC – The Victoria Royals fell 5-2 to the Kelowna Rockets on Monday afternoon at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Kelowna’s Devin Steffler (4) on his knees, goes after the puck  with Royals Kody McDonald as goalie James Porter gets back into the crease. Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Game Summary:

Gamesheet
Game Galleries

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Victoria Royals Kaid Oliver Scores on Kelowna’s James Porter to tie the game up 2-2 Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Royals celebrate Kaid Oliver’s goal. Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Scoring:
Royals – Kaid Oliver 1g-1a, Scott Walford 0g-2a, Kody McDonald 1g-0a, Matthew Smith 0g-1a.

Kelowna – Lassi Thomson 1g-1a, Kyle Topping 1g-1a (Game Winner), Mark Liwiski 1g-1a, Kaedan Korczak 0g-2a, Schael Higson 1g-0a, Conner Bruggen-Cate 1g-0a, Devin Steffler 0g-1a, Alex Swetlikoff 0g-1a, Ethan Ernst 0g-1a, Dallon Wilton 0g-1a.

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Kelowna’s James Porter makes a save during the first period. Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Goaltending:
Royals – Brock Gould (L) – 60:00 mins, 27 saves on 32 shots.

Kelowna – James Porter (W) – 60:00 mins, 26 saves on 28 shots.

Powerplay:
Royals – 1/4 = 25.0%

Kelowna – 0/3 = 0.0%

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Royals Phillip Schultz takes Kelowna’s Dalton Gally into the boards during the first period.Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Notes:

Back at the Barn: With tonight’s loss, the Victoria Royals now hold a record of 5-1-0-0 in their first game of a homestand this season. Since moving to Victoria in the 2011-12 campaign, the club is 23-12-1-1 when their first game at home after a road trip comes against a team from the BC Division.

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Monday Matchups: This afternoon’s contest against the Kelowna Rockets marked just the second game this season that the Royals have played on a Monday. The other contest came on New-Year’s-Eve, when the Royals defeated the Kootenay ICE 4-3 in overtime.

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Kelowna Recap: Tomorrow night’s contest will be the last time the Victoria Royals face the Kelowna Rockets in the regular season. In their seven meetings, the Royals have gone 2-5-0-0 against their BC Division rival.

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Streaking: Currently, Victoria Royals’ forward Kody McDonald is on a three-game point streak. Over this span, McDonald has collected four points (3g-1a).

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Royals Jameson Murray (6) Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Mr.300: Today’s game marked the 300th career contest for Kelowna’s Schael Higson. The 20-year-old defenceman has collected 82 career points (19g-63a), split between the Saskatoon Blades (2014-16), Brandon Wheat Kings (2016-18), and the Rockets.

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN

Coming Up: Victoria finishes up their two-game set against the Kelowna Rockets tomorrow night at 7:05p.m. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Select Your Tickets box office, over the phone by calling 250-220-7777, or online at www.selectyourtickets.com.

Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN
Photo by Gord Rufh ISN