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SPORTS IN BRIEF: Royals bop T-Birds; Ryan Cochrane aquatic athlete of 2012; Local wrestlers and figure skating

Victoria-bred goalie Brandon Glover of the Seattle Thunderbirds has been strong this season but his team couldn’t stop the Victoria Royals
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Austin Carroll is on a roll. He scored the Teddy Bear toss goal on Saturday against the Swift Current Broncos and had a Gordie Howe hat trick versus the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday.

Royals win crucial points from Thunderbirds

Victoria-bred goalie Brandon Glover of the Seattle Thunderbirds has been strong this season but his team couldn’t stop the Victoria Royals on Tuesday.

The Royals (17-13-0-1) took a 6-2 road win, and moved into sixth in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Thunderbirds (16-15-1-0).

Glover, a former South Island Royals (Thunderbirds) major midget player made 37 saves on 43 shots.

Alex Gogolev opened the scoring for the Royals with his 12th goal of the year in the first period and scored one of the Royals’ three power play goals late in the game for his 13th.

Austin Carroll, Brett Cote, Jamie Crooks and Logan Fisher also scored for the Royals.

The Royals are in Red Deer tonight (Dec. 14) and Edmonton tomorrow, before a 13-day break.

Ryan Cochrane named Canada’s aquatic athlete of the year

Ryan Cochrane of Saanich and diver Emilie Heymans of St. Lambert, Que., are Aquatics Canada’s male and female athletes of the year for 2012.

Aquatics Canada athletes compete in diving, swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo.

Cochrane, 24, won silver in the 1,500m freestyle at the London Olympics, adding to his Olympic bronze medal from 2008. Heymans, 30, won a bronze medal in the 3m synchronized diving with partner Jennifer Abel, and made history by being the first Canadian Olympian to win medals at four straight Olympics.

Esquimalt wrestlers take wins from Abby tournament

A select group of Island wrestlers attended last weekend’s Abby Invitational Wrestling Tournament in Abbotsford, and came home with good results.

Athletes from Ucluelet, Port Alberni, Campbell River, Victoria, Cowichan, and Nanaimo attended as the Vancouver Island Wrestling club, and trained together for the first time in Abbotsford on Friday night.

“By the end of the day Saturday both the girls and the boys had put in dominant earning impressive overall team points,” said coach Mike Thompson of Esquimalt High.

Esquimalt’s Warren Clark was able to dominate the 70 kgs weight class. His only real challenge came from teammate Mitchell Keeping in the finals, Thompson said.

Also impressive was John Fayad from the Victoria Bulldogs club team who won the cadet boys 60 kgs class.

Racquet Club qualifies ice dance team to nationals

Ice dance team Andie Lynn Gingrich and Liam Kinrade of the Racquet Club Figure Skating Club of Victoria placed seventh overall at the novice dance at the Skate Challenge in Regina last weekend.

Their rendition of the compulsory Westminister programme was tops among all 26 teams.

The pair will attend the Skate Canada 2013 Figure Skating Championships, Jan. 13 to 20 in Mississauga, Ont.

Coach Matt Willis said he’s extremely happy with their accomplishment. Willis has now left to coach brother-sister dance team Leo and Pilar Maekawa as they compete in Zagreb, Croatia.

sports@vicnews.com