Kamloops Blazers fall 4-1 against Victoria Royal in second of back-to-back games

Royals outgun Blazers 4-1

Photo: Kamloops Blazers / Facebook

The Blazers fell 4-1 to the Victoria Royals Wednesday night.

After delivering a royal beatdown the night before, the Kamloops Blazers were batted away in a 4-1 loss in the second of back-to-back games in Victoria.

The Victoria Royals struck first and netted two goals in the first period. Ty Coupland scored the lone Blazers goal before the end of the period.

The Royals scored early in the second to extend their lead and an empty net goal with less than two minutes left in the game dashed any hope for a Blazers comeback.

Blazers goalie Logan Edmonstone made 31 saves on 34 shots. Victoria net minder Ethan Eskit stopped 19 of 20 shots.

Announced attendance at Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena in Victoria was 2,874.

The loss moves the Blazers to 24-16-6-4 on the season, putting them in fourth place in the WHL’s Western Conference. The Victoria Royals moved up to 21-19-5-3, good for eight in the conference.

Up next for the Blazers is a stop in Everett, Wa. to face off against the league-leading Silvertips on Friday, Feb. 6. Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m.

Kelowna Rockets continue to struggle in overtime, losing 4-3 to Portland

Rockets fall in OT

Photo: Steve Dunsmoor

Rockets fall 4-3 in overtime to Portland Tuesday

The Kelowna Rockets' struggles beyond 60 minutes continued Tuesday night at Prospera Place.

The Rockets fell to 0-5 in three-on-three overtime and 3-7 overall, losing 4-3 to the Portland Winterhawks before 3,730 mostly disappointed fans.

The Rockets were able to generate one good chance in overtime but Mazden Leslie was stopped on a two-on-one from the right circle.

But, after turning over the puck in the offensive zone, Nathan Brown hit a streaking Sam Spehar at the Rockets blueline.

He got behind the defence and beat Harrison Boettiger to the glove side.

The Rockets trailed 1-0 after one and 2-1 after two but dominated the Winterhawks in the third, peppering Ondrej Stebetak with 23 shots.

Ty Halaburda eventually got the equalizer, bunting home the puck out of mid air midway through the third with the Rockets a man down.

The goal was his 100th in the Western Hockey League.

Just 83 seconds later Halaburda forced a turnover behind the Portland net and found Tij Iginla in the low slot. His second of the night and 25th of the year gave the Rockets their first lead of the night.

But, instead of pushing for more, the Rockets found themselves back on their heels. Just 57 seconds after grabbing the lead, Alex Weiermair beat Boettiger from just inside the blueline, forcing overtime.

“That just goes to checking. Whether that’s guys not confident in their spot or somebody runs around and throws us out of whack, we’ve got to be better,” said head coach Derrick Martin.

The Winterhawks scored the only goal of the opening period with Ryuan Miller chipping a puck over Boettiger from in tight on a sequence in which the Rockets had a few opportunities to get the puck out of their own end.

A seeing eye shot from the point past a screened Boettiger just 15 seconds into the second made it 2-0, but the Rockets took the game over from there.

Iginla finally gave the crowd something to get excited about four minutes into the second. He took a stretch pass from Parker Alcos and beat Stebetak with a beautiful backhand deke.

But, again, for Martin it was another slow start against a team below them in the standings.

“I just didn’t like our first 20 minutes. We didn’t check, we turned over some pucks at the blue lines that cost us and that’s the story tonight.

“We turn a puck over at the blue line and it leads to their first power play and we turn a puck over at our blue line and it winds up in the back of our net.

“Things we continue to talk about and that’s frustrating.

“I liked our second period, I really liked our third period and in overtime, we check better than that.”

It’s a lost point that may come back to haunt them when all is said and done.

The overtime loss drops the Rockets down to fifth in the Western Conference. They are a point behind Kamloops who thumped Victoria 11-1 and three in back of Prince George who lost 3-2 to Red Deer.

The Rockets have a crucial test coming up this weekend, back-to-back games in Prince George within a chance to catch the Cougars, a team they have been trying to chase down for a few weeks now.

Kelowna returns home next Wednesday for a date with the Wenatchee Wild.

Penticton Vees pull off shootout win after letting go of four-goal lead

Vees manage shootout win

Photo: Penticton Vees/Brian Johnson

The Penticton Vees pulled off a shootout win Sunday night, having to battle back from a Seattle Thunderbirds comeback.

The Vees started out with a 4-0 lead, all in the first period. But the Thunderbirds had some fight in them, tying the game to force overtime.

During the overtime period, the Vees managed to kill 1:32 of Thunderbirds powerplay time, forcing the shootout.

Brittan Alstead scored the only shootout goal, while goalie Ethan McCallum held up against all the shots he faced.

The Vees' season is now at 31-10-4-3, after this 5-4 shootout win.

GAME STATS

Shots:

Vees- 28

Thunderbirds- 44

Scoring:

Vees- Diego Johnson (2), Brittan Alstead, Brady Birnie, Brittan Alstead (Shootout)

Thunderbirds- Cameron Schmidt, Antonio Martorana, Noah Kosick, Coster Dunn

Power Plays:

Vees- 0/4

Thunderbirds- 0/5

Goaltending:

Vees- Ethan McCaullum 40/44

Thunderbirds- Marek Sklenicka- 24/28

The Vees are heading off to Spokane this week to battle the Chiefs on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m.

Penticton Vees defeat Portland Winterhawks 5-3 after breaking big win streak

Vees win again at home

Photo: herie Morgan

Penticton Vees defeat Portland Winterhawks 5-3 Saturday.

The Penticton Vees defeated the Portland Winterhawks 5-3 in home territory over the weekend.

On Sunday, the Vees scored the first goal in the second period with Louie Wehmann scoring out from behind the net.

After 40 minutes of game time, Tristan Petersen scored a shot, followed by another. Ryden Evers also slid in a point for Penticton under the bar.

The Winterhawks' Jordan Dugauy answered back with two goals of his own, making the game 4-2.

Finally, Wehmann took his second point of the night on an empty net. And Portland got the last goal of the night, finishing out at 5-3.

Game stats:

Shots:

• Vees- 32
• Winterhawks- 38

Scoring:

• Vees- Louie Wehmann (2), Jacob Kvasnicka, Ryden Evers, Tristan Petersen
• Winterhawks- Jordan Duguay (2), Luke Wilfley

Power Plays:

• Vees- 0/2
• Winterhawks- 0/2

Goaltending:

• Vees- AJ Reyelts - 35/28
• Winterhawks- Cruz Chase - 27/31

Up next, the Vees play the Seattle Thunderbirds in Washington State Sunday at 5 p.m.