Patrik Polivka made 42 saves for the Victoria Royals, who scored early on Tuesday and held on for the 2-1 road victory over Kamloops.
The Royals are in Kelowna tonight against the Rockets.
The Blazers, meanwhile, will visit the Royals for two games this weekend, Friday (Nov. 22) and Saturday.
Tuesday was Polivka’s first start since being chased by the Edmonton Oil Kings in a 5-0 loss on Nov. 6. Backup Coleman Vollrath had been superb in Polivka’s place, letting in just nine goals in four games since then (plus an empty-netter in the lone loss to Seattle on Saturday).
With the pressure on, Polivka responded, holding the Royals in it Tuesday. Tyler Soy and Steven Hodges both scored first period power-play goals. Chase Souto scored the Blazers only goal in the second period.
Tuesday also saw the return of defenceman Keegan Kanzig, his first game with the Royals since getting knocked out of the Nov. 6 game against Edmonton in a fight.
The Royals have also acquired Swedish forward Axel Blomqvist who will make his debut in Victoria against the Blazers on Friday.
The Royals traded a fourth and an eighth round WHL Bantam Draft pick to Lethbridge Hurricanes for Blomqvist, who has eight goals in 19 games this year. Blomqvist, 18, earned a three-year entry level deal with the NHL’s WInnipeg Jets after his NHL preseason tryout. He fills the second WHL Import spot on the Royals with Polivka using the other.
Royals’ fans saw Blomqvist when he visited with the Hurricanes on Friday, Oct. 11, but was a non-factor other than taking a 10-minute misconduct with captain Jordan Fransoo in the third period.
Puck drop for the Royals and Blazers on Friday and Saturday is 7:05 p.m. at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
