The Victoria Royals squared up against the Vancouver Giants for the first of two games. The Royals were able to shut out the Giants winning the game 3-0. Victoria had suffered some losses with injuries and COVID-19 protocol prior to the game which lead them to a slow start. Vancouver kept piling on shots hoping to score first, which they did, but it was waived off to be goaltender interference. The remainder of the first period was scoreless leaving the Royals looking for answers with the shots being 19-5 in favour of the Giants.
The Royals looked hungry in the second period, ready to capitalize in which they did. They would find the back of the net at the 5:45 mark of the second period as Carter Briltz sent the puck into the slot for Matthew Hodson to tip it in. The Giants kept pushing in search of a goal by any means but Royals’ Tyler Palmer denied every single shot. It wasn’t much later until Bailey Peach would score a highlight-reel goal by scoring a “lacrosse goal”. In which the crowd erupted in disbelief at what they had just witnessed. Bailey’s 14th goal of the season came at the 16:26 mark of the second with assists coming from Brayden Schuurman and Devin Aubin. The Royals went on to carry the 2-0 lead in hopes of securing the shutout.
Vancouver kept trying to find a way to get by the brick wall known as Tyler Palmer which truly seemed like an impossible task. At 14:33 Gannon Laroque would receive a hit that caught him up high resulting in a game misconduct to Zack Ostapchuk. Victoria would put the game away with the empty-net goal as Bailey Peach added another goal to his name (15th) once again being assisted by Brayden Schuurman. Tyler Palmer stopped all 50 shots he faced being the first star of the game followed by Bailey Peach, and Matthew Hodson.
