Rockets crown Royals

Photo: Jon Howe

The Kelowna Rockets opened a brief two game road trip to the provincial capital in commanding fashion Sunday.

The Rockets jumped all over the Victoria Royals in the opening period of a convincing 5-1 win over the hosts.

Kelowna scored four unanswered goals in the first and built the lead to 5-0 before the Royals finally managed to get on the board.

Leif Mattson got the ball rolling just 2:21 into the opening frame with his first career Western Hockey League goal.

Rodney Southam, with his first of two, made it 2-0 just two minutes later.

Kole Lind and Southam again a minute 52 seconds apart midway through the first gave the Rockets a 4-0 lead.

Nolan Foote increased the margin to 5-0 with a second period power-play goal.

Moments later, Dante Hannoun beat Michael Herringer with a power-play marker of his own.

That completed the scoring.

Herringer faced just 26 shots to earn the win.

The same two teams meet Tuesday night in Victoria.

The Rockets then return home to host the East Division leading Regina Pats Saturday.