Royals lose in Gold-Medal Game of Igloo Cup in East Hants

The Windsor Royals fell behind 4-0 after one period in the championship game of the East Hants Penguins Pre-Season Hockey Tournament in Lantz Sunday, September 24, had a huge 2nd period rally to pull within one goal of arch-rival Laurie Barron's coached Penguins at 6-5, only to lose the championship game of the inaugural Igloo Cup at

the Lantz Sportsplex 7-6. Dylan Shearer and Shane Naugle led the way with a pair of goals each with Naugle collecting a pair of assists and Shearer one assist while Jeff Backman and Mike Sherman had single goals for the Royals. Trevor MacKenzie with a hat trick, Andy Chase, Darcy

Morrison, Kyle Ross and Randy LeBlanc all scored for the Penguins. The Royals were outshot 38-30.

The Royals opening game of the tournament saw Windsor lose 7-4 to Penguins. Dylan Shearer, Brandon Ross (not as flashy a hockey player like his father Toni but still durable), Keith Burgess and Fraser Roddick tallied for the Royals in a game which featured lots of fisticuffs. There were six fights with the Royals winning five of them. Royals newcomer John Sanipass was engaged in a pair of bouts and finished with almost 30 minutes in penalties.

The game which got the Royals to the championship finale Sunday was a 4-3 win over the Sackville Blazers. The Royals held leads of 2-0 and 4-1 before giving up a pair of late goals to the Blazers.

Keith Burgess with a pair, Shane Naugle and Mike Sansom scored for the Royals. New goaltender Matt Pongoski played a brilliant game in the nets as Sackville outshot Windsor 32-22.

In exhibition games in St. Margaret's Bay, the Royals defeated the Ducks 6-2 Sept 17 but lost 8-6 to the same Ducks Sept 21. The Sept 21 game was the beginning of four games in four days for the Royals.

Regular Season Opens:

Due to the Thanksgiving Day deadline, the Royals will have opened their regular season and have played three games by the time you read this. Opening night was last Thursday evening back in East Hants against the Penguins followed by games in Springhill last Sunday against the Cumberland County Blues and Thanksgiving night in Sackville.

The Royals will play their fourth regular season game of the season this Tuesday evening in Brookfield (Oct 17) against the Elks which will be followed by a doubleheader home opening weekend on Fri Oct 20 at 7:45 p.m. when the Pictou County Subways visit followed by a Sunday afternoon visit from the Cumberland County Blues and a 5:00 p.m. start on Oct 22.

The Royals are excited about the 2006-2007 season. Head Coach Brad Steadman and his assistants have worked the club into great shape and understand the immense importance that special teams will play this season with the no tolerance rule on clutching and grabbing. The shoot-out rule this season being implemented in the league for the first time will only add that much more excitement.