The Victoria Royals prepare for their final Western Hockey League regular-season game tonight, against the Wenatchee Wild at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, knowing there is more to come — finally.
The Royals will make their first post-season appearance since 2018-19 after the 2020 and 2021 playoffs were cancelled due to the pandemic and the club failed to qualify the past two seasons.
It has been a long time coming for players such as defenceman Austin Zemlak, who joined the Royals in the 2021 bubble season.
“I’m super-excited. It’s been three years running now,” he said. “It’s definitely a big motivation and I’m really excited.”
But it won’t be easy. The Royals (29-29-9 and tied for sixth place in the Western Conference) close out the regular season looking to finish above .500 and knowing they will have to play one of the big three of the Western Conference in the first round of the playoffs — either the Prince George Cougars, Portland Winterhawks or Everett Silvertips — beginning on the road next Friday.
“Whoever we play is going to be a tough match-up. All those top teams are pretty good,” said Zemlak.
“But I think we can give them a run for their money and we can surprise them.”
Zemlak was selected ninth overall in the first round by Victoria in the 2020 WHL prospects draft but has yet to receive the pro notice accorded his Royals blueline mates Justin Kipkie, drafted last year by the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, and 2024 NHL-draft ranked Nate Misskey.
“I go out there day by day and keep improving and that’s all you can really ask for,” said Zemlak, who recently returned from a 17-game injury absence.
“Really happy to be back with the boys. I’m not a flashy guy, just a steady defenceman. But I can still get up in the play and create some offence when I need to. I feel like I’m a two-way D-man with a hard shot, and with physicality in the back end. I strive to be a hard defenceman to play against.”
Then those pro scouting eyes might turn his way as well as his ceiling remains high.
Misskey recently returned from a 24-game injury absence and has been paired again with Zemlak on their dual returns.
“We paired up last year and have been building the chemistry ever since,” said Zemlak.
“We read off each other. We make a good pairing.”
The Wild (33-29-4) are looking to nail down fourth place in the Western Conference and home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
They have accomplished their standing despite losing three NHL first-round draft picks from last season’s WHL regular-season championship squad (when the franchise was known as the Winnipeg Ice before the off-season move to central Washington state).
The Wild dealt Buffalo Sabres prospect Matthew Savoie, the ninth overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft, to Moose Jaw and Conor Geekie, taken 11th overall in the 2022 NHL draft by the Arizona Coyotes, to Swift Current in big WHL trade-deadline deals this year to restock with a ferry-load of upcoming high WHL prospects draft slots to avoid facing years ahead in the wilderness.
Another NHL first-round draft pick Zach Benson, selected 13th overall in 2023, was lost to the Wild when the Sabres surprisingly kept him up in the NHL this season.
Not many WHL teams could lose three first-round NHL draft picks and remain competitive, but the Wild still have a core of players from last year’s team that made it to the league final under current Royals head coach James Patrick.
Patrick coached the Wild franchise the previous six seasons when it was known as the Kootenay and Winnipeg Ice, but was not retained in the move from Winnipeg to Wenatchee.
Wenatchee leads the season series 2-1 but Victoria’s 7-3 victory on Wednesday was its first against the Wild franchise since 2018 when it was known as the Kootenay Ice and based in Cranbrook.
ICE CHIPS: Tonight will be the final career junior-hockey regular-season games for graduating Royals 20-year-olds Dawson Pasternak, who has a team-leading 72 points with 27 goals, Tyson Laventure, who has a combined 31 goals and 66 points this season with Victoria and Swift Current, and goaltender Braden Holt, who has carried the load in the crease for Victoria. You never know where you will end up in junior hockey. Holt came to Victoria last season from the Everett Silvertips, Pasternak arrived this season after previous-season stints in Portland and Brandon, while Laventure was a mid-season acquisition from the Broncos with time previously skating in the WHL with Prince Albert and Lethbridge. Even though the three-allowable 20-year-olds per team in the WHL are rarely, if ever, NHL-bound, teams need them to make an impact and the Royals’ trio did just that this season.
