Royals battle Silvertips in WHL action
Outhouse makes 38 saves for shutout
VICTORIA 5 EVERETT 0
The Western Hockey League transaction list is an interesting one as the Victoria Royals appear in seven of the last 14 deals made as the roster deadline of Jan. 10 nears.
It’s a good thing they sell programs as Royals general manager Cam Hope has tinkered with his lineup. He had newcomer Andrei Grishokov — acquired from the Calgary Hitmen — in the lineup Friday night, but D-Jay Jarome — who was picked up from Prince Albert — was a scratch.
The end result was just the team’s second win in the last eight appearances as the Royals took a 5-0 victory over the Everett Silvertips at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre as goaltender Griffen Outhouse made 38 stops in the win.
Outhouse tied the franchise mark for shutouts with his 10th, equalling former Chilliwack Bruins netminder Lucas Gore’s mark.
“The lanes seemed big. I think the guys did a pretty good job of letting me see the puck,” said Outhouse. “I think of the 38, there were a couple that I could have controlled better which could have cut it down to 34 or 33. That’s something I want to continue to work on, but the guys made it easy on me, so it’s on them.”
It’s hardly been easy of late for the Royals, who have now collected five of the last 16 possible points for this crew which is still trying to gel from the changes made.
The schedule doesn’t help much as the team has to get back on the bus to Kamloops tonight and then venture south to Everett on Sunday afternoon. The Silvertips are home to Portland tonight as they also play three in three days.
One of those seven recent transactions came through to break a scoreless tie as Braydon Buziak jumped on a loose puck for the Royals at 16:05 of the second period. Buziak had an assist in his only other appearance at home after he was acquired Dec. 27 from the Regina Pats.
In fact, most of the newcomers made a statement on Friday as Buziak also assisted on Jeff de Wit’s 2-0 goal just 17 seconds into the third period. De Wit’s wicked snapshot beat goaltender Dustin Wolf, who made the start while star netminder Carter Hart — a second-round Philadelphia Flyers draft pick — backstopped Canada to a 3-1 gold-medal win over Sweden at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Buffalo.
De Wit had also came over on Dec. 27 from the Kootenay Ice.
Dante Hannoun, captain Matthew Phillips and Grishokov added third-period markers for the victors. Grishokov saw plenty of ice time, especially in the opening period.
“They’re great additions. We’ve gotten to know them a little bit over the last few days. They fit right into the group and add some balance throughout the lineup as well, offensively and defensively so we’re real happy with them,” Royals head coach Dan Price said if his new recruits.
“Grish, I watched him closely on video and felt he could contribute right away. The thing I liked about tonight’s game was, we knew he had offensive ability, but I thought he was gritty, too,” Price said of Grishokov.
Victoria improves to 22-15-3-1, while Everett slips to 21-15-1-1.
ROYALS GEMS: Hope has made five other deals this season for an even dozen.