The Victoria Royals are half way through their four-game home stand, with a win and a loss to the Kelowna Rockets on the weekend in the first two games. After a 4-1 defeat Friday, the Royals responded with a 3-2 victory Saturday night, boosted by a two-goal, three-point effort from Ben Walker and a 30-save performance from 17-year-old Coleman Vollrath for his first WHL win in his first WHL start. It was quite a feeling for the Calgary product that was very quick to give praise to his mates in front of him on Saturday.

“They played a lot better on Saturday night than we did as a team on Friday,” said Vollrath. “We really came together, especially in the second period after faltering in the second period Friday. I thought we played more of a complete game and pushed the pace on Saturday and that’s why we got the win.”

Vollrath was the 55th selection of the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft by the Chilliwack Bruins and got his first action Wednesday in Kamloops in the third period of a 5-2 loss to the BC division leaders. When Vollrath got the call to start Saturday, he said he wasn’t nervous and did exactly what the team expected him to do.

“I felt good and confident. It’s going to take time to feel comfortable at this level, but nerves were pretty good for my first game. I was more excited than anything to get in there and was definitely hungry to get in there for my first WHL start.”

“He played real well. He has done what we expect out of our goalies and that’s to give us an opportunity to win games,” said Royals’ Head Coach Dave Lowry. “When we need a big save we expect them to make a big save and that was the case. I like the way he works and competes to find pucks and technically he appears to be real solid. He makes the first save and he was good with his rebound control.”

The Royals trailed after two periods Saturday for the eighth time this season, tied with the Saskatoon Blades for the most times in that situation in the WHL. While the Blades have only one win when they trail after 40 minutes, the Royals won for the fourth time when down through two. Inside the numbers, there is reason to think they get stronger as the game goes on. The Royals have been out-scored 10-5 in the first periods this year and 14-12 in the middle frame. In the third period, though, the Royals have out-scored the opposition 12-11.

“Friday night wasn’t the type of play that’s indicative of the how we need to play to be successful. Our guys responded real well and we dealt with some adversity throughout the course of the game and we showed our resiliency to score a big goal in the end.”

“Last couple of games we didn’t have real strong second periods. Wednesday and Friday night, those were games that we got away from playing to our strengths and spent a lot of time in our own end,” said Lowry. “A few of the games we’ve had to kick things into desperation mode (in the third period). We were a team that was back out hunting for loose pucks. We were trailing and we needed the urgency and desperation to find a way to win games.”

Next up for the Royals is the Calgary Hitmen on Thursday night, which starts at 7:05pm. With the Royals’ win on Saturday, their record improved to 7-4-0-0, second in the BC Division and third in the Western Conference.

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As of this writing, it is still to be determined how long Kelowna’s Ryan Olsen will be suspended after a check to the head major penalty early in the third period Saturday against the Royals. Defenceman Joe Hicketts was on the wrong end of the hit and was wearing a yellow practice jersey today, which is reserved for injured players. A good sign that he is on the ice, but did not take part in all of the team drills. Head Coach Dave Lowry said forward Steven Hodges, who has missed the last eight games with a lower body injury, will be a game-time decision Thursday night.

It was a chippy affair with the Rockets Saturday, but the Royals got back to what makes them successful.

“Any time you get a team in here for two games, the emotions are going to carry over and that was the case on Saturday,” said Lowry. “Our team has to play a certain way; we have to be physical and we have to be hard to play against. We were that team on Saturday night.”

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Back to Vollrath, who began to play goal when he was 10-years-old. He has an interesting reason as to why he chose that position.

“I like the guys’ faces when I robbed them. Make a big save and they’re throwing their sticks into the stands,” said Vollrath. “I saw that a little bit (Saturday vs. Kelowna). I made a nice save with 30 seconds or a minute left and I think that guy felt a little robbed a bit. I like seeing that.”

Vollrath said he has really worked over the years to protect the lower part of the net and patterns his style around Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

“I like how he moves in the net and his down low game is probably the best in the NHL along with Jonathan Quick. I try to model my down low game after those guys because you have to be quick down low to battle at this level and make those second and third saves. Watching those guys growing up helped my game where it is today.”

Vollrath wears a simple black goal mask and although a mask graphic was designed for him by Royals’ Equipment Manager Matt Auerbach, Vollrath has stuck with the simple look.

“Matty actually gave me a mask, but it’s a different model than the one I have now. It just didn’t feel right on my head and I couldn’t see pucks as well in it. So I’m just sticking to what works right now because I think that’s what is important.”

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The only team that the Royals have to look up at in the BC division standings is the only team that has not lost in regulation. The Kamloops Blazers took the WHL’s overall lead with a 5-2 win in Calgary Sunday, which was the first regulation loss for the Hitmen. The Blazers are now 8-0-0-1 on the season and I haven’t run into many people who don’t have the Blazers as the top contender from the Western Conference to represent the WHL in Saskatoon at the Memorial Cup in May. For the second straight week, JC Lipon is the WHL’s Player or the Week after he posted six goals and four assists in only three games and now leads the league with 13 assists and 22 points in nine games.

The Royals have had three looks at the Blazers this season and handed Kamloops their only blemish on the year with a 4-3 shoot-out win September 28. The teams will meet again October 27 in Kamloops and Royals’ Head Coach Dave Lowry has liked the effort from his troops against the league’s top team.

“We have had periods where we’ve been very good against them. From start to finish in all the games I liked our first game against them and it took a little extra time to beat them. The second game we played them back here we knew that they were going to be the team that we expected to see on the Friday night. We expected a push from them and we didn’t respond the way that we wanted and that’s a credit to their team and coaching staff and how they got them prepared.”

“They play the same way every night,” added Lowry. “They have good speed; good team speed and good puck speed. They work hard and they always seem to stay within the team game.”

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Back on a plane Tuesday to host the Everett Silvertips/Swift Current Broncos game in Swift Current Wednesday night on Shaw TV. The plan is to catch the Silvertips Tuesday night clash with the Moose Jaw Warriors, then race the ‘Tips bus to Swift Current. The Silvertips added 20-year-old defenceman Connor Cox in the 20-year-old draft, after he was put on waivers by the Saskatoon Blades. Cox had 41 points for the Blades last season and gives the Silvertips a nice piece to add along with Ryan Murray on the back-end. Meanwhile, we should be in for a good game if the Broncos are involved. Half of their 10 games have gone to overtime. Following that match-up, we will head to Winnipeg for a Canada West football game between the UBC Thunderbirds and Manitoba Bisons. After we witnessed the Calgary Dinos 51-1 blow-up of the Alberta Golden Bears Friday, this game will be a doozy in comparison. What hurt about that Friday game was the fact the Bisons and Saskatchewan Huskies played possibly the game of the year in Saskatoon that same night, with the Huskies a 44-39 winner.