Vaillancourt turns a King size hat trick

Darcy Vaillancourt celebrates after his third goal of the game against the Espanola Kings. Photo courtesy J-G Petrin.

Darcy Vaillancourt scored a natural hat trick to lead the Temiscaming Royals to a 5-1 victory over the Espanola Kings at the Centre in Temiscaming Sunday afternoon.

Marc Desgagne and Sebastien Poirier scored the other goals for the Royals.

Clancy MacNeil scored the only goal for the Kings on a 5 on 3 powerplay in the first period.

Royals netminder Guillaume Piche - although only facing 29 shots - made some key saves early in the game that kept things close. On the other hand, Kings netminder Mark Wardell faced a barrage of 57 shots and earned the games third star.

Darcy Vaillancourt was the first star and Sebastien Poirier earned the second star.

During the contest it was announced that three of Royals players have been selected to travel to Erie, PA to play an exhibition game against Mercyhurst college. The three Royals are Goalie Guillaume Piche and defensemen Felix Gilbert and Sebastien Poirier.

The Royals hit the road next weekend with a game Friday in Innisfil and Saturday at the Toronto Canada Moose.