There was a marriage proposal, and acceptance, on the big screen Wednesday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. That turned out to be the highlight of the night for the 2,614 Victoria Royals fans.
The Vancouver Giants continued their relentless stalking of the Royals with a 5-1 WHL victory that moved the Giants five points behind Western Conference fifth-place Victoria with two games in hand. Vancouver (25-24-3) is undefeated in nine games, with eight of those being wins. The Royals (25-21-8), meanwhile, have stalled at 2-7-4 in their last 13 games as they deal with an avalanche of injuries.
That forced forward Dawson Pasternak to again play on defence for the Royals, something the 20-year-old hasn’t done regularly since his U-15 days.
“It’s challenging. It’s not an easy task, especially against the teams we have been playing against with everyone really pushing for the playoffs,” said Pasternak, who had an assist Wednesday.
“It’s difficult but enjoyable in a way, too, because you get to see the game and the ice so much differently.”
Pasternak said the Royals just have to work their way out of the recent bad patch: “It’s frustrating losing lots of these games but the worst thing you can do is get down and be negative. After a loss it can hurt for six, seven hours but then you wake up and move on.”
Kyren Gronick led Vancouver with two goals. Norwegian world junior championship player Casper Haugen Evensen scored for Victoria on the power play for his fifth goal and 12th point in his last 11 games.
Brett Mirwald of the Giants, a previously unheralded 20-year-old who was named WHL goaltender of the week for the third time this season, made 31 saves to go to 9-1-1 in his last 11 games to continue as one of the surprise storylines of the WHL season. Royals rookie goaltender Jayden Kraus made 26 saves.
The Royals host the Kelowna Rockets on Friday and Saturday nights at the Memorial Centre.
