Royals fall short in Beaumont

Photo Credit: Rayan Tubeec

The Royals headed to Beaumont for the second in a back-to-back series with the Beaumont Chiefs Friday night which seen multiple penalties by both sides, multiple scoring chances and end-to-end action all night. 

Carson Devlin got the scoring started for the Royals in the first period when Royals defensemen Nathan Fairweather entered the zone and passed the puck to Andrew Bender-Yantha who without hesitation left a drop pass in the zone for Devlin and he made no mistake wiring it past Chiefs goaltender Zach Dewar for the 1-0 lead which the Royals took into the intermission. 

The Second period came with lots of scoring chances on both sides, but the Chiefs tied it up when Hayden George walked in alone on a breakaway and buried a short handed goal past Royals goaltender Tanner Thomas. There were 10 penalties in the second period alone where both teams traded chances but both Thomas and Dewar stood their ground exchanging series of saves which kept the game tied 1-1 heading into intermission. 

The Chiefs got rewarded in the third period when Connor Scott buried a loose puck in the crease after Thomas made multiple point blank saves but couldn’t stop them Scott and it gave the Chiefs a 2-1 lead 1:04 into the third period. The Royals kept working and were eventually rewarded for it as Carson Devlin buried his second of the game on the power play to even the game at two with 3:08 left in the game. 

Overtime saw multiple chances from both teams but again, Tanner Thomas and Zach Dewar shut the door on multiple opportunities to send the game into a shootout. Royals shooters Kaleb Haskey, Andrew-Bender Yantha and Hunter Delf all got denied in the shootout as the Cheifs prevailed 3-2 in the skills competition. On a positive note, the Royals didn’t allow a power play goal even though they had 11 penalties called against them, raising the penalty kill to an impressive 95.5% efficiency rate for the season, which is the best in the Capital Junior Hockey League. Royals goalie Tanner Thomas finished the night stopping 39 of 41 shots with a .957 save percentage. Chiefs goalie Zach Dewar stopped 42 of 44 with a .955 save percentage.

The Royals leave Beaumont with a point and pick up three of a possible four points in the back-to-back games with Beaumont with their record now standing at 2-1-1. Beaumont still remains winless in the season with a record of 0-3-1. The Royals are back in the friendly confines of Confederation Arena Sunday night as they host the 2-0-0 Beverly Warriors. Puck drop from Confed goes at 7:45 PM.