In one of the most explosively famous rants in sports history, former Colts NFL coach Jim Mora once answered a reporter’s question: “Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? I just hope we can win a game.”
But it’s that time of year in hockey when you can legitimately begin mentioning the ‘P’ word. In fact, the Saskatoon Blades became the first team to clinch a playoff berth and the lead story Tuesday on the Western Hockey League website was a look at the match-ups “if the playoffs started today.”
For the Victoria Royals, it would be the Wenatchee Wild. Using a tennis metaphor, for the longest time it appeared the Royals and Wild would just volley back and forth in the fourth and fifth playoff positions in the Western Conference until an inevitable-seeming first-round post-season match-up. Portland, Prince George and Everett were too far ahead and Vancouver, Kelowna, Spokane and the rest too far behind.
But then the Wild, looking to the future with the draft cupboard empty due to past-seasons trades, dealt away NHL first-round draft picks Conor Geekie and Matthew Savoie in January for four first-round and two second-round WHL prospects draft picks through 2027. That draft bonanza is not going to help this year and the Wild (27-21-4) have lost their last five games.
The Royals (25-20-8), meanwhile, ran into a blizzard of injuries and have stalled at 2-6-4 in their last 12 games.
Vancouver, meanwhile, is undefeated in eight games, with seven of those being wins, and has caught Kelowna with both on 51 points in sixth position, which is now just seven points behind Wenatchee and Victoria. That makes the next three games for the Royals crucial with Vancouver in town Wednesday night and Kelowna on Friday and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Although a first playoff appearance in four years seems secure for the Royals — they are 17 points clear with 15 games remaining — weirder things have happened.
“We do as a team talk about where we are at and where we want to go,” said Royals head coach James Patrick.
Those seat-of-the-pants comeback wins in overtime earlier in the season were a foundation built on sand, but they provided a cushion in the standings, although it is now being eroded.
“When I first got here [Nov. 6 replacing former coach Dan Price], I felt our goaltending won us a number of games. We were down and we won in overtime and that happened in a lot of games,” said Patrick
“It hasn’t been the same the last month. We have to play a cleaner game than we have.”
Especially with the Giants closing fast.
“Vancouver is a lot different team than it was two months ago. They got healthy and brought in some guys,” said Patrick.
“They have three lines you have to match up with and be aware of. They are playing really good hockey and are peaking right now.”
The last stretch of games is how many pre-season pundits saw Victoria’s year playing out overall before the Royals became the early-season surprise of the WHL. In some ways, minus the unexpected comeback wins earlier, it is similar to what Patrick faced in his first two struggling seasons behind the bench with the Kootenay Ice before the franchise (now in Wenatchee) turned it around in Winnipeg with the Ice the winningest team in the WHL the previous two seasons under Patrick.
“Yes I do,” said Patrick, when asked if he sees parallels between his early time with the Ice in Kootenay and now in the early part of his tenure in Victoria.
“There are so many similarities. We talk a lot about the process instead of the results and to the players about: ‘How do I get better every day coming to the rink? Do you come every day trying to get better?’ ”
