The Coronation Royals were grounded by the Oyen Eagles in the first of a pair of back-to-back home games for the struggling team.
Coronation hosted the Oyen Eagles at the Castor Beaverdome on Jan. 26.
Despite Oyen outshooting the Royals through the first 30 minutes, the Royals defence and goalie succeded in blocking everything thrown at them.
Shortly past the halfway mark in the second period, Eagle Nolan Rattai finally got onto the score sheet. A quick goal by Jayden Smith and another by Rattai in the dying minutes of the period had the Royals headed to the locker room facing a 3-0 deficit at the intermission.
The Eagles kept the pressure up in the third, with Charles Allen scoring on the powerplay just under three minutes into the period.
That goal was answered around the 10-minute mark with an unassisted powerplay goal scored by Royals Hunter Baldwin.
Jordan Hoffman picked up a final goal for the Eagles, with just under 6 minutes left in the third.
The final score was 5-1 for Oyen.
Royals goalie Kadin Kurek made 41 saves on 46 shots, while Eagles goalie Bryce Hittel made 40 saves on 41 shots.
Each team scored on the powerplay, with Oyen accruing 10 penalty minutes and Coronation accruing 12.
On Jan. 27, the Royals faced off against the Sedgewick Sabres in a game which had been rescheduled from Jan. 13 at the Coronation Arena.
Sedgewick’s Tyler Sparrow picked up an early powerplay marker just over a minute into the game, putting the Sabres in the driver’s seat.
Royals Hunter Baldwin replied two minutes later, picking up an even-strength goal.
Sedgewick’s Clay Lang finished scoring in the period with a goal just under five minutes left in the first.
Sedgewick kept the pressure up in the second period; Lang picked up a second goal around the nine-minute mark, and Jesse Reeds picked up a goal less than a minute later, leaving the Royals trailing 4-1 by the end of the period.
The Royals came out strong in the third period, clawing back to within one, thanks to a goal scored by Brandyn Baird with around 4:30 left and a goal scored on the powerplay by Steven Fletcher with around 3:30 left.
Against the Sabres, Kurek allowed two goals on 25 shots, and Zeke Leuck, the alternate, allowed two goals on 17 shots.
Matthew Gaume, the Sedgewick goalie, allowed three goals on 29 shots.
Again, each team struck on the powerplay; the Sedgewick Sabres racked up 16 penalty minutes and the Royals accrued 10 minutes.
With these two games done, the Royals record for the 2023-24 season falls to 1 win and 13 losses in 14 games played. The team’s next game is on Feb. 3 against the Hughendon Jets.