Wednesday night in Victoria the Vancouver Giants (13-12-1-1) dropped a 3-1 decision to the Victoria Royals (14-8-2-0). Despite outshooting the Royals 34-20, they only managed to score once on goaltender Shane Farkas. Graeme Bryks, Keanu Derungs and Nolan Jones had goals for the Royals while Brandon Cutler supplied two assists. Cole Shepard had the lone goal for the Giants which came late in the third period.
Notes:
BC Division: With the win, the Royals moved into sole position of third place in the BC Division with 30 points (14-8-2-0). Victoria now has a two-point lead over Vancouver, who sit in fourth in the division with a 13-12-1-1 record and 28 points. The Royals have also played three fewer games than the Giants.
Winning Ways: The Royals have now won eight of their last 10 games (8-1-1-0).
Starting Strong: Victoria forward Graeme Bryks opened the scoring just 20 seconds into tonight’s game. The tally set a Royals’ season high for fastest goal to open a game. The franchise record for quickest goal to open a game is eight seconds, which has taken place on three occasions. This most recently occurred on November 9, 2018 versus the Spokane Chiefs on a goal by Tarun Fizer.
First as a Royal: Defenceman Nolan Jones scored his first goal in a Royals’ uniform tonight.
Point Streak: With an assist on the team’s second goal of the game, Royals’ forward Gary Haden has recorded at least a point (4g-2a) in four straight games.
Special Teams: Vancouver went 0/6 on the powerplay tonight and have now not scored a goal with the man-advantage in their last 33 opportunities. The Giants last powerplay goal came on November 2nd versus the Tri-City Americans.
First Career Game: Giants’ forward and Victoria, BC native Julian Cull played in his first career WHL game tonight. Cull was recently recalled from the Langford based Pacific Coast Hockey Academy (PCHA) Midget Prep team of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL). In 21 games for PCHA this season, Cull has collected 18 points (7g-11a).
Next Game: Victoria’s three-game homestand continues this weekend when they face the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday and Saturday night. Saturday’s contest is the club’s annual Teddy Bear Toss game.
