BLAZERS OPEN PRESEASON WITH A WIN

The Blazers got off to a good start in the WHL preseason with a 4-2 victory over the Victoria Royals on Thursday night. The Blazers dressed a veteran squad and it showed in the early going as the hockey club was dominant in the first ten minutes of the game. The Blazers had a ton of chances in the opening frame as they outshot the Royals 15-4. Import goaltender Patrik Polivka was solid in his debut making 15 saves in the first period.

The Blazers found the net early in the second period on a 5-on-3 power play. Colin Smith zipped a pass across the crease to Tim Bozon who put it in for his first goal of the preseason and a 1-0 lead. Polivka exited the net in the middle of the frame turning aside 23 shots. The Blazers struck for two more goals late in the period. Jordan DePape had a few whacks at a puck in front and eventually put it five-hole on goaltender Cameron Vollrath to make it 2-0 Blazers. Chase Souto made it 3-0 only 41 seconds later as Matt Needham won a face-off and gave a puck to Souto who put it in the empty net. The Blazers outshot the Royals 28-10 through two periods.

The Royals struck back in the third period. Austin Carroll fed 15-year-old Tyler Soy with a pass and he put a shot stick side to beat Blazers goaltender Cole Cheveldave and cut the Blazers lead to 3-1. Soy made thing interesting as he scored for a second time with just under three minutes to go on the power play to make it 3-2. The Blazers quickly restored the two goal lead as JC Lipon sent Josh Connolly and Colin Smith on a two-on-one. Connolly took the shot and Smith stuck in the rebound to make it 4-2 Blazers.

The Blazers outshot the Royals 44-23 in the game as Cole Cheveldave made 21 stops, while Coleman Vollrath took the loss making 17 saves. The Blazers were 1-for-7 on the power play and the Royals went 1-for-4. These two teams will meet again tomorrow night as the Blazers travel to Maple Ridge to face the Royals. Game time is 7:00pm.

The game will not be on the radio, so follow @blazerhockey on Twitter tomorrow to get the updates.

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