From crooners to sweet passers, Spokane has a claim to fame as being the hometown of Bing Crosby and John Stockton.

And it is also home to a decent Western Hockey League team.

So the Victoria Royals (17-30-6) did well in losing 6-5 to the Chiefs (29-15-7) in a shootout Friday night before 7,709 fans at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

The Royals rode three power-play goals to gain the single point, including Robin Soudek’s tying goal with 35 seconds remaining in regulation time.

Victoria fought back from a 5-2 deficit with three unanswered goals, starting with Steven Hodges’ power-play counter at 16:09 of the second period.

“I thought we deserved both points,” said Royals GM and head coach Marc Habscheid.

“It was a good effort against a good team in a tough building.”

Hodges, rated No. 55 among North American skaters in Central Scouting’s mid-season rankings for the 2012 NHL draft, scored twice for Victoria.

Jamie Crooks, with his team-leading 28th goal of the season, and Brandon Magee also scored for the Royals. Soudek led Victoria with three points.

Minnesotans Ben Walker and Logan Nelson, the latter tied for the lead in WHL rookie scoring, chipped in two assists each for Victoria, but both missed in the shootout.

The Chiefs have three players who were taken in last summer’s NHL draft — forward Dominik Uher, in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Penguins, forward Darren Kramer, in the sixth round by the Ottawa Senators, and defenceman Brenden Kichton, in the fifth round by the New York Islanders.

Uher led Spokane on Friday with a goal and two assists, while Liam Stewart, Marek Kalus, Mitch Holmberg and Cole Wedman scored the other goals. Holmberg got the shootout decider.

Royals goalie Jared Rathjen, making a rare start, was pulled at 9:01 of the second period after allowing five goals on just 17 shots. Keith Hamilton, the regular starter, came in and faced eight shots, including a penalty shot in the third period.

Eric Williams took the win by making only 18 saves in goal for Spokane as Victoria made its shots count, at least in regulation time.

It was the second of four meetings on the season between the clubs. The first was a 6-1 Chiefs victory in Spokane on Oct. 26. The season series will close out Feb. 28-29 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

Don Nachbaur — who took over the Spokane team last season to replace current Idaho Steelheads ECHL head coach Hardy Sauter — has the Chiefs playing well. These clubs have a history, although it’s not really meaningful to Victoria fans. The Chiefs defeated the Chilliwack Bruins — who moved this season to the B.C. capital to become the Royals — 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs last season.

The Royals head further south into eastern Washington state tonight to take on the Tri-City Americans (36-12-2), ranked No. 5 in the BMO MasterCard CHL top 10 poll of all major junior teams in North America.

The Royals return to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for a two-game set Tuesday and Wednesday against the Everett Silvertips, who on Thursday fired GM Doug Soetaert.

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