Tri-City would win back-to-back games for the first time this season and improve to 4-6 after a stellar performance from Xavier Wendt made it possible, along with a late power play goal from the new guy on the block, Connor Dale.
1st Period
Tri-City got off on the right track, opening the scoring for the second game in a row.
Mason Mykichuk dropped a pass to Jakub Vanecek, who fired a long-distance shot that got through traffic and beat a screened Ethan Eskit of Victoria on the blocker side. With that play, Mykichuk picked up his first career WHL point.
Mason wasn’t done yet. A little over halfway through the first period, he dropped the gloves with the local kid from Richland, Cruz Waltze, who plays for Victoria. Mykichuk dominated the fight and dropped Waltze, who had to leave the game after the bout and did not return.
Victoria then got its first good chance of the game with 7:55 left in the first after a Savin Virk high stick. The Royals’ power play came into the game operating at 28.8%, good enough for fourth in the WHL.
Just 27 seconds into the power play, Victoria tied it.
Hayden Moore zipped into the Tri-City end and eluded multiple defenders before sliding the puck to the backdoor, where the Royals’ team leader in points, Roan Woodward, tapped it in.
With under a minute left in the first, Xavier Wendt made arguably the save of the year in the WHL to keep the game tied heading into the first intermission.
Nolan Stewart, from the left wing, sent a pass to Eli McKamey, who had slipped behind the Americans’ defense and waited for the puck on the backdoor. McKamey thought he had the whole net to himself, but Wendt flashed the glove and made a diving save to put an exclamation mark on the first period.
Wendt reflected on the save after the game:
“I kinda saw the guy coming and kinda just bit on the shot so I just tried to get something in front of it. For a second I didn’t even know I had it.”
2nd Period
Tri-City started the second period on the penalty kill with 30 seconds remaining from a delay-of-game call against Gavin Garland late in the first.
Nothing came of it, but Wendt continued to make highlight-reel saves, pulling every trick out of the bag to keep the game level — including what appeared to be a toe save on the backdoor eight minutes into the period.
Wyatt Danylenko gave Victoria the lead back just before the halfway mark.
After the puck trickled wide of the net, Danylenko recovered it behind the Americans’ goal. Wendt had spun and fallen over, and as he was regaining his balance, Danylenko fired it off of Wendt and in.
Tri-City nearly tied it back up thanks to a strong effort from Savin Virk.
Virk worked his way into the Victoria end and, while heavily pressured by three Royals, backhanded the puck to Pavao in front. Pavao deked to the backhand and flipped one toward the net, but Eskit sprawled out to make the save as Victoria narrowly held onto its 2-1 lead.
That lead stood for the remainder of the second period, and Tri-City entered the third period down by one yet again.
3rd Period
The third period was full of mistakes by the Victoria Royals that ultimately cost them the game. The first major miscue came just four minutes in when Ashton Brown was called for a double-minor high stick, giving Tri-City a four-minute power play.
Tri-City didn’t waste the golden opportunity. They tied the game at 5:34 when a blocked shot in the slot bounced right to Gudelj in the left circle, who wired home a one-timer past Eskit’s blocker.
Late in the third, Cruz Pavao was called for tripping — a call that drew loud boos from the home crowd.
Tri-City dodged a bullet, killing off the penalty, and just fourteen seconds after it expired, the Americans went on the power play with 2:22 left in regulation after Victoria committed its biggest mistake of the night.
Gudelj, along the right-wing boards, sent a pass to Jakub Vanecek at the point. Vanecek quickly moved it to Connor Dale in the left circle, who wound up and blasted a one-timer blocker side past Eskit.
Dale spoke about the game-winner afterward:
“Really it was just a good pass, I found a lane for the one-timer and I tried far side. I don’t think the goalie saw the puck, we had a good screen and it feel’s really good to get that goal, game winner.”
Tri-City held off a late push after the Royals pulled Eskit and secured back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
Post Game/What’s Next
Tri-City improves to 4-6 with consecutive victories and gets a bit of revenge against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year.
Hull had this to say after the game:
“It feels good. You know, I’m just proud of the players. We were good early, and flat in the second. Then our power play came through big for us too at the end.”
Hull also praised Wendt’s brilliance and his pivotal role in the victory:
“I told the guys after the game, he was the difference between the reason why we won the game because he made huge saves at opportune times to give us that confidence and ability and chance to win the hockey game. At the end of the day, you don’t want your goalies always making those five alarm saves. But you want your goalie to make saves to give you a chance to win hockey games and that’s what he’s doing.”
Wendt on the night was named first star and made 33 saves to improve to 4-3 on the season.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s matchup against the Wenatchee Wild, Hull expects the momentum to carry over:
“I think that the momentum from this win should carry over tomorrow, thats how it should. That’s how we have to approach it. It’s gonna be tough tomorrow, back on the road again. But it’s a good chance to get two wins this weekend and move up in the standings.”
As stated, Tri-City will travel to Wenatchee, who are dead last in the Western Conference at 2-6-1-1, for a Saturday night tilt with puck drop set for 6:00 PM.
