Blazers nearly put up a dozen in lopsided win over cellar-dwelling Royals

Photo: Alex Beckett/Kamloops Blazers

Matthew Seminoff and Caedan Bankier combined for 14 points Wednesday at Sandman Centre where the Kamloops Blazers trounced the Victoria Royals 11-1.

Seminoff (4), Emmitt Finnie, Bankier (3), Ryan Michael, Ryan Hofer and Harrison Brunicke were the goal scorers for the Blazers. Carter Dereniwsky scored the lone Victoria goal.

The Blazers led 5-0 after one period and 10-0 after two. They were up 11-0 until Dereniwsky got the Royals on the board with 25 seconds remaining in the third.

Dylan Ernst made 19 saves on 20 shots in the win — his WHL-leading 37th of the season. Braden Holt and Nicholas Cristiano split the goaltending duties for Victoria.

The Blazers scored twice on four power-play opportunities. The Royals were scoreless on one chance.

The win was the seventh in a row for the Blazers, who have now won 24 of their last 27 games.

Announced attendance at Sandman Centre was 4,468.

With the win, the Blazers improve to 45-11-4-2 on the season. The have already clinched a fourth-consecutive B.C. Division championship and sit second in the Western Conference, now seven points back of the first-place Seattle Thunderbirds (50-9-1-2).

The Royals fall to 15-42-6-1 and are dead last in the five-team B.C. Division. They are now winless in their last 11.

The Blazers will be back in action this weekend in a home-and-home with the Kelowna Rockets (26-35-3-0) — playing at Sandman Centre on Friday night and at Prospera Place on Saturday.

After that, the club will have a good late-season measuring stick with a home-and-home against Seattle, playing in Kent, Wash., on Tuesday and back on home ice on Wednesday.