A steady stream of red sweaters to the penalty box was welcomed by the Corner Brook Royals in a must-win game Friday night.
The Royals, looking for a win to move into a tie for first place in the West Coast Senior Hockey League standings, racked up four goals with the man-advantage and added a short-handed tally for good measure to register a 7-4 win in a seesaw battle at the Corner Brook Civic Centre.
Andrew Hawco had two goals — one of them on the power-play— and added an assist to lead the charge for the Royals.
Ryan McMackin, Tommy Ryan and Adam Guy also had power-play markers for the Royals, who held a 3-1 advantage after the first period.
Matt Roche, Luke Parsons and T. J. Smith scored on the power play for the Red Wings, who outscored the Royals 3-1 in the middle stanza to set the stage for the third period.
Jamie Penney and Jeremy Bishop, with a short-handed tally late in the third rounded out the scoring for the Royals.
Friday night’s game between the Stephenville Jets and Port aux Basques Mariners was cancelled due to high winds in Port aux Basques and has been rescheduled for the gateway town Sunday 2 p.m. at the Bruce II Sports Centre.
The regular season in the West Coast Senior Hockey League wraps up next weekend with a handful of makeup games.
Both the Royals and Red Wings have two games left but they won’t see each other again unless it’s during the playoffs.
If the two rivalries end up tied for first at the end of the regular season the Red Wings will earn first place based on their record head-to-head, which saw the Red Wings get the upper hand winning four out of six.
