It’s sports cliché 101 but it applies to the Victoria Royals.
They can’t look at it as a whole — having to take three games in a row from a star-laden Portland Winterhawks team that has won 35 of its last 37 games.
The Royals have to break down their 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven WHL Western Conference semifinal series into single, manageable units. Or — and here it comes — one game at a time.
“We can’t look at winning the series in one night,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
“We have to reboot this [tonight] and look at it one outing at a time to bring this series back.”
The Royals organization is salivating at the thought of a Game 6 at home in front of what would certainly be a memorable and jacked-up Saturday evening capacity crowd on Blanshard Street. Let the emotional tide carry you to victory on that night and it’s suddenly an anything-can-happen, one-shot possibility in a Game 7 back in Portland.
That’s the theory, at least.
But before any of that can occur, the Royals must win Game 5 tonight at the Moda Center in Portland. Oh, yeah, that small matter. Fail tonight and any dreams of Game 6 or Game 7 turn to dust.
Asked if there was anybody in the Royals’ dressing room who doesn’t think it’s possible to run the table on the Winterhawks, forward Steven Hodges shot back with an unwavering: “No.”
It’s that belief athletes must have, or why even suit up?
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After a jazzed-up start in Games 1 and 2, in which the heavily-favoured Winterhawks looked every bit the part in 8-2 and 6-3 victories, the Royals made them appear merely mortal in Games 3 and 4 in Victoria.
Following a 2-1 Royals victory Monday, Victoria looked the better team again before letting a 4-3 decision slip away to the ’Hawks in a bitterly disappointing Game 4 on Tuesday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
“We were overwhelmed in the first two games and better in games 3-4,” said Lowry.
“We generated lots of chances in the last two games. But we have to eliminate the mistakes.”
Victoria fans, meanwhile, loudly voiced their displeasure in Games 3 and 4 over officiating they viewed as erratic. With Portland’s power play the best in the WHL over the regular season, special teams are critical in this series.
“We need discipline and to stay out of the penalty box and not give them [Winterhawks] the opportunity to dive,” said Lowry.
“We’ve taught our guys to stand up. They [Winterhawks] go down awfully softly. Nic Petan [Portland star forward and Winnipeg Jets second-round draft pick] goes down real easy.”
Victoria GM Cam Hope, however, was more forgiving: “Officials have the hardest job in sports and I cut them a lot of slack.”
Victoria’s season was built on team play and work ethic, factors Hodges believes will hold the Royals in good stead as they look to embark on what most outsiders believe is a highly-unlikely comeback.
It’s the ‘F’ word — fitness. The Royals haven’t seemed to tire as the series has progressed, while Portland appeared to wear down a bit in the two games played in Victoria.
“We’re a better conditioned team,” said Hodges, a 2012 third-round draft pick of the Florida Panthers.
But will that be enough? It will have to be.
“We’re not going to out-talent the Portland Winterhawks. We have to out-work them,” said Hope.
And be smart about it.
“If you let your guard down for 10 seconds, or start parading to the penalty box, they will pounce and make you pay,” added Hope.
There are no more secrets. Only 60 minutes. The Royals hope its 60 times three. The Winterhawks aim to make it 60 and out tonight.
“Everybody knows what we have to do,” said Hope.
