In a spirited bout Friday evening, the Victoria Royals came out flying and netted a 4-0 win over visiting Kamloops Blazers, in what was the first in the best-of-seven series between the two clubs.
Well. It’s just one game. Long series to go here.
👑 4 🔥 0
Shots 37-28 VIC— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) March 23, 2019
The Royals hold an impressive record against the Blazers – they’ve put up a 4-0-0-0 tally this regular season against Kamloops, and at home, Victoria is 23-6-2-0 in all-time contests versus the visitors.
Goaltending superstar Griffen Outhouse is no stranger to putting up points against the visiting team, either; with a record of 5-1-0-0 in his six starts against the Kamloops this season, he also holds a save percentage of 0.936 and goals against average of 2.10. In his first post-season career shutout tonight, Outhouse made 28 saves and surpassed Coleman Vollrath in career post-season appearances by a Royals goaltender with 21.
Absolute Larceny from @outhouse40! pic.twitter.com/fd06vlyaVu
— Victoria Royals (@victoriaroyals) March 23, 2019
The Royals hit the ice running tonight, their shots tallying 10-0 over the visiting team before Sean Gulka drew first blood with a goal at 6:23 of the first period. Noah Lamb racked up his first career WHL point on an assist to Carson Miller’s goal in the second period, seeing Victoria go up 2-0 over Kamloops at 9:51.
Dino Kambeitz made it 3-0 later in the second period, and sealed the deal with a sweet empty netter in the third, bringing the barn on Blanshard’s crowd of 4,103 fans to their feet in the most epic way with a 4-0 shutout.
Victoria native and Blazers’ goaltender Dylan Garand made his first career WHL playoff appearance and start tonight at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre – he was drafted by Kamloops in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft’s third round as 58th overall.
The three stars tonight were Sean Gulka (1) with one goal (and game-winner!), Griffen Outhouse (2) with the 28-save shutout, and Tanner Sidaway (3) with one assist.
The two teams will face each other once again tomorrow night, Saturday, March 23rd for the second game of the series before the Victoria Royals head off to the Blazers’ ice in Kamloops for game three.
Check out the series schedule below:
We will face the Kamloops Blazers in Round 1 of the #WHLPlayoffs! Game 1 is this Fri, while Game 2 will take place on Sat. Puck drop for both contests is at 7:05 pm! #VICvsKAM
Tickets: https://t.co/dSQzSd7kW2
Read: https://t.co/lJhh8ra1rE pic.twitter.com/r6DxI7AnpR— Victoria Royals (@victoriaroyals) March 20, 2019
Victoria Royals
- When:
- Saturday, March 23nd at 7:05 p.m. – Victoria Royals vs. Kamloops Blazers – second playoff game of the season
- Where: Save On Foods Memorial Centre, 1925 Blanshard Street
- Tickets: Playoff tickets can be purchased in-person or online
