Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Victoria Royals insist they’re down but not out

The Victoria Royals may be the victim of preconceived notions. But they have to make allowances for that.
VKA-RoyRocks205370.jpg
Joe Hicketts and the Royals will need to cut down on their penalties if they're to make this a long series.

The Victoria Royals may be the victim of preconceived notions. But they have to make allowances for that. Trailing the Kelowna Rockets 2-0 in their second-round WHL series, their playoff life depends on it, beginning with Game 3 tonight at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

“Sometimes, our reputation preceeds us — that we are over the top and are an aggressive team that plays over the edge,” said head coach Dave Lowry.

“That’s unfair because what we do is play with hard energy and emotion. We play right on the edge [not over it]. We’ve gone from being the most penalized team in the Canadian Hockey League two years ago to No. 6 in the WHL this season with less than 1,000 penalty minutes. We play a fast, physical and emotional game.”

But the referees don’t often agree.

Kelowna scored two power-play goals in Saturday’s 4-3 victory and the overtime winner was essentially also a power-play goal with penalized Royals defenceman Chaz Reddekopp only just stepping back onto the ice when Tyson Baillie ended it. The Rockets also had two power-play goals in Friday’s 5-0 victory in the Okanagan.

“The number of penalties [against Victoria] is frustrating,” said Lowry.

“The standard [of officiating in the playoffs] is tight and we have to adapt to it. We address that and talk about it.”

Both sides, meanwhile, are agreed on another issue, which is rare enough in hockey: The Royals, after a strong but narrowly losing overtime effort Saturday, are unlucky to be down 2-0 the best-of-seven WHL second-round series.

“We are fortunate to be up 2-0,” admitted Kelowna head coach Dan Lambert.

“In the first game, we were the better team. Victoria was the better team in Game 2. They did everything better. They out-competed and out-skated us. All they didn’t do was win the game. [Goaltender Jackson Whistle] kept us in the game.”

Lowry concurred: “We deserved a better fate [in Game 2].”

But it’s a telling thing about sports that the better you are, the luckier you get. The Prince George Cougars were also deserving of a better fate and were saying the same things after their 4-1 opening-round series loss to the higher-ranked Royals (39-29-4 in the regular season).

>>> GET MORE VICTORIA ROYALS COVERAGE

Now, it’s the Rockets (53-13-6 and 4-0 sweep of Tri-City in the first round and overall No. 2 in the WHL and No. 4 in the CHL) who have the talent superiority and seem to win games they shouldn’t. Funny how that works.

“[The Rockets] have skill and they stay within their structures and wait for the opportunities. We did that against Prince George,” said Lowry.

It’s fitting Leon Draisaitl is in Victoria this week because he has destroyed Victoria in this series with his Steve Nash-like assists, including three on Saturday.

“I try to be as unpredictable as possible [with his puck movement],” said Draisaitl.

The German, taken third overall in the 2014 draft, began the season with 37 games in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers.

“Playing in the best league in the world helped a lot,” he said, of his 53 points in 32 regular-season contests and nine points in six playoff games since dropping down to junior with the Rockets.

This series isn’t done yet and he is expecting Victoria to be a difficult obstacle in the way of Kelowna’s dream of the Memorial Cup.

“This is a good rivalry and Victoria always plays us hard,” said Draisaitl.

“This is not going to be easy. The battles are always tough when we play Victoria. We don’t look too far ahead. We are only midway through this series. We take it game by game and are only focusing on the game ahead of us [tonight].”

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com