The Victoria Royals used their home ice advantage to build themselves a four-goal lead over the visiting Prince George Cougars in the first period on Sunday.
While the Cats managed to score a marker in each of the second and third periods, the Royals answered with one of their own in each period to hang onto a 6-2 win.
While Victoria only outshot the Cats 15-13 in the first period, Royals goalie Coleman Vollrath proved impenetrable.
Ryan Gagnon, Tyler Soy, Alex Forsberg and Jared Dmytriw scored for Victoria in the first period. Brayden Pachal scored in the opening minute of the second period to give the Royals a 5-0 lead.
Chase Witala took advantage of a powerplay shortly before the 14-minute mark in the second period to get the puck past Vollrath and put the Cougars on the board.
A dustup between Kody McDonald and the Royals' Jack Walker created the man advantage.
The Cougars came out hard in the third period, outshooting the Royals 15-7, but McDonald was the only Cat able to connect with the back of the net.
Walker returned the favour two-and-a-half minutes later to give the Royals a 6-2 win. The final shots on net were 36-33 in favour of the Cats.
The Cougars and Royals face off again tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Save-On Foods Memorial Arena in Victoria.
