Garry Davidson, former BCHL Victoria Salsa (now Grizzlies) and Nanaimo Clippers head coach and GM, has done an astute job as GM building the Everett Silvertips of the WHL.
The U.S. Division-leading Silvertips (42-20-8), ranked No. 9 in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll, skated to a smartly-executed 4-3 victory over the Victoria Royals on Friday night.
The home curtain-dropper on the Royals’ 2014-15 season drew 6,813 fans to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. Victoria (38-29-4) will close out the regular season tonight in Everett, the third consecutive season the Royals have closed out with a home-and-away set against the Silvertips.
“It was a good hockey game. [Silvertips] are an opportunistic team. They waited for their chances and they have the skill players to capitalize,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
“They are battling Portland for the U.S. Division title, which tells you the quality of their team.”
Meanwhile, it became official the B.C. Division second-seed Royals will open the playoffs with a best-of-seven series starting March 27-28 at the Memorial Centre against divisional third-seed Prince George (31-35-5). The Cougars clinched third place with a 3-1 victory over Kamloops on Friday.
The action on Blanshard last night was quick-paced. Austin Carroll’s second-period goal, which made it 2-1 for the Royals, was his 38th and historic. It broke the record for most goals in a season since the franchise was relocated to Victoria from Chilliwack in 2011-12. Jamie Crooks, now a two-time CIS national champion with the University of Alberta, scored 37 goals for the Royals in 2011-12.
“Mentally, we treated it as a playoff game,” said Carroll. “But we made a couple of mistakes that cost us.”
Assisting on Carroll’s goal was Brandon Magee, who is now one shy of Kevin Sundher’s career Chilliwack/Victoria franchise record 151. Magee also scored on the power play in the final home regular-season game of his WHL career. It was also the final career WHL home contest for fellow Royals 20-year-olds Travis Brown, the blue-liner who assisted on Magee’s goal, and Carroll.
“It was a great atmosphere and we made a point of enjoying the moment,” said Magee.
