Staff Reporter
The Victoria Royals made short work of the Kelowna Rockets Friday night at Planet Ice in Maple Ridge, downing their Western Hockey League rival 4-1 in exhibition action.
The Royals had plenty of shots on net to start the game, but couldn’t get one past Kelowna netminder Jordon Cooke until the 13:11 mark, as Zane Jones recorded his first goal of the preseason.
The Royals took the one-goal lead into the locker room, allowing only two first period shots against.
Kelowna evened things up early in the second period with a powerplay tally from Colton Heffley.
However, the Royals would dominate the rest of the period, and the game.
Ben Walker restored Victoria’s lead on the powerplay at 8:30. Less than two minutes later, Brandon Magee potted another powerplay marker from Joe Hicketts, before Brett Cote scored his first goal of the preseason to give the Royals a 4-1 lead midway through the period. Cote’s goal was the third in three-and-a-half minutes for the Royals.
The Rockets were unable to put a dent in the three-goal Victoria lead, as the Royals won their second game of the preseason.
The match featured 119 total minutes in penalties.