Inside was no June picnic, either, as they lost to the Seattle Thunderbirds for the ninth consecutive time.
The Thunderbirds defeated the Royals 5-4 in a building that was eerily nearly empty because of the harsh weather. The crowd was not announced over the public address but there appeared to be about 500 in attendance, making for a surreal Twilight Zone like feel.
That’s unfortunate because, unless there is a playoff meeting between the clubs this spring, it was the last chance Victoria fans had of seeing Seattle’s supremely talented top line. Mathew Barzal, a member of the 2017 world junior championship silver-medallist Canadian team, is truly special and will be an NHLer with the New York Islanders. Ryan Gropp and Keegan Kolesar are likely future NHLers with the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets, respectively.
Kolesar had two goals, Gropp one goal and three assists and Barzal four assists Wednesday. Defencemen Austin Strand and Ethan Bear, an Edmonton Oilers prospect, also scored for Seattle as the Thunderbirds moved to 33-15-5 overall and 9-0-1 in their last 10 games with just one regulation-time loss in their last 16 games. Seattle is 16-2-2 since the Christmas break.
The small, quick Victoria team (30-21-4) simply does not seem to match-up well against the much bigger Thunderbirds as Seattle swept the season series 4-0.
With so much high-end talent, it’s no surprise the Thunderbirds’ power play is lethal, and they showed it by going 3-for-5 Wednesday.
Victoria’s power play was also effective at 2-for-6 with Tyler Soy and Matthew Phillips scoring. Soy extended his points streak to 11 games. The Anaheim Ducks draft pick has eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in that stretch. Phillips' goal was the Royals-leading 38th for the Calgary Flames draft pick.
The other Victoria goal came from Jared Dmytriw and defenceman Ralph Jarratt. Forward Dante Hannoun added three assists to extend his points streak to six games with four goals and seven assists in that run.
The Royals trailed 4-1 before tying it 4-4 only to have it slip away.
“I liked our resiliency and the way we fought back,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
Soy concurred: “We showed a lot of heart.”
And amid the most bizarre of circumstances, due to the glaring lack of fans because of the weather. It was certainly a freakish occasion that will be remembered by the players.
“It seemed like stepping into a [youth]-league hockey game,” said Soy.
“But once the game started, you didn’t think about it that much.”
Griffen Outhouse made 23 saves in goal for Victoria and Rylan Toth 19 for Seattle.
Meanwhile, it didn’t help the Royals’ cause to be missing two of their better forwards with Vladimir Bobylev and Ryan Peckford not dressed.
ICE CHIPS: Helping boost the smattering of a crowd was the Canadian national rugby team . . . Here is something nobody thought they would hear in Victoria sports: The term snow check instead of rain check. The Royals have offered tickets to either of the Friday or Saturday home games against the Kamloops Blazers for those hardy fans who turned up Wednesday and also for those fans who held tickets to the Seattle game but could not attend because of the weather. . . . Following Saturday’s home game, the Royals will head east to Medicine Hat to begin a three-game road trip on Wednesday
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