Royals put on vintage display

VICTORIA 4 KELOWNA 2

Although the promotion was ’80s Night, the Victoria Royals came out Saturday wearing throwback jerseys patterned after those of the 1925 Stanley Cupchampion Victoria Cougars.

If the ghost of Lester Patrick was hovering over Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, the legendary Cougars builder-coach was probably smiling. Not only was the mish-mash of eras not too terribly awkward, but the team from the city he famously put on the hockey map won.

The Victoria Royals, with a comprehensive performance, defeated the Kelowna Rockets 4-2 before 6,508 fans in WHL action. The Royals, ranked No. 7 in the CHL top-10 poll, moved to 13-5-1, while the highly-regarded Rockets are 8-6-3.

Two goals off the quick hands of Royals forward Ryan Peckford and another on a well-placed breakaway shot by darting veteran forward Dante Hannoun staked Victoria to a 3-0 first-period lead.

“We all played hard and made it happen,” said Peckford, who is ranked by Central Scouting for the 2018 NHL draft.

The result took the sting out of Friday’s 4-2 Royals loss to the Rockets. “We did a great job of all buying in and it was a good bounce-back game,” said Victoria defenceman Ralph Jarratt, named third star.

Rookie Dino Kambeitz made it 4-0 in the third period. Nolan Foote dashed Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse’s shutout bid at 14:50 on a Kelowna power play. The goal was assisted by his brother and first-round Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick Cal Foote and second-round Vancouver Canucks pick Kole Lind. Leif Mattson added another Rockets power-play goal at 15:52.

“I was happy with the response from our group [after Friday’s loss]. The players took ownership of this game,” said Royals coach Dan Price.

Outhouse turned the tide when he stabbed the puck for perhaps the glove save of the season with the game scoreless in the first period. “[Outhouse] holds us in every game,” said Peckford.