Royals’ Kaspick picks apart Hitmen
St. Louis prospect notches two more goals in home win
Give Tanner Kaspick the puck, please.
All the Victoria Royals centreman has done since he was acquired on the trade deadline back on Jan. 10 from the Brandon Wheat Kings is score goals. Well, truthfully, he’s done much more than that.
But the St. Louis Blues prospect, a fourth-round selection and 119th overall in 2016, added his fifth and sixth goals in just his seventh game as a Royal on Saturday night in a 4-1 victory over the visiting Calgary Hitmen at Saveon-Foods Memorial Centre.
Of the seven goals, four, including Saturday night, have been game-winners as he’s made his adjustment to Royal blue look easy.
Kaspick has now tallied seven game-winners in total this season and has recorded 11 over his 198 career WHL games.
The two goals on Saturday — which followed two in Vancouver on Friday — gives him 18 on the season.
“I don’t know, it might be a little lucky or kind of good circumstance,” said Kaspick, who was also fantastic on the penalty kill on Saturday as the Royals kept the Hitmen to a 1-for-9 night as they took far too many penalties.
“I’m just trying to play hard, have some fun and play loose. Fortunately, it’s worked out well so far.”
Kaspick, who turns 20 today, is far too modest. In a nutshell, he’s a pro playing a junior game right now — just ask his coach.
“He works so hard. He’s a tremendous citizen in the room, a great teammate and takes care of his body. He does everything right. He’s a consummate pro and he plays that way on the ice, offensively and defensively,” said Royals head coach Dan Price.
“It’s when he scores the goals and the types of goals that he scores,” Price added of the ability to notch game-winners. “He’s a gamer, such a competitor. He’s one of those guys who rises to those big moments. I agree with you 100 per cent, he’s a pro.”
The Brandon native has looked comfortable right from the start.
“It couldn’t have been an easier environment for me, the guys being so great and the coaches being so easy to play for,” Kaspick said of his move west. “Just the talent on this team — if I play my game and do what I need to do, I’m going to get a lot of chances.”
Royals captain Matthew Phillips was also his usual stellar self, wasting little time in getting it started with a sweet backhand deke just 1:01 into the game.
He also added his second of the game and 35th of the campaign, picking the puck out of the air on a power play late in the second. Tyler Soy added three assists for the winners.
Luke Coleman had the Calgary goal as his redirection got by Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse — making his 44th appearance of the season — on a Hitmen power play just prior to Phillips’ second of the night. Outhouse faced 24 shots. Victoria was 2-for-3 on the man advantage as special teams factored into the result, the team’s sixth win in the past seven games to improve to 29-17-3-1. The Royals have also won seven straight against the Hitmen, outscoring the Calgary club 32-10 in the process.
These teams meet up again today at 5:05 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.