Three Dog Night sang about one being the loneliest number. But it will bring the Victoria Royals plenty of company in the WHL, as in eventually joining seven other Western Conference teams in the playoffs.
The Royals dropped their magic number to one with any combination of a Victoria win or overtime/shootout loss, or a Tri-City Americans loss, clinching for Victoria a post-season berth five years in the making. It would be the first post-season appearance by the Royals since 2018-19 after the pandemic forced the cancellations of the 2020 and 2021 playoffs and Victoria failed to qualify for the last two post-seasons in 2022 and 2023.
The ninth-place Americans were beaten 4-1 Saturday by Kelowna. The fifth-place Royals (28-24-9) have seven regular-season games remaining, beginning Tuesday in Spokane.
Victoria gave the Winterhawks all they could handle in a 5-4 overtime loss Saturday night before 6,143 at the Veterans Coliseum in Portland. That was after the powerhouse Winterhawks had handily swept the injury-depleted Royals in a two-game set last weekend in Victoria. The Royals’ acute injury situation hasn’t improved but they gave one of the best teams in the league all they could handle Saturday as the slippery and sly rookie forward Cole Reschny scored twice to push his goals total to 20 and points total to 52 on the season.
“We gave a real gutsy effort against a very good team that has maybe the most mobile defence in the league [featuring four NHL draft picks],” said Royals coach James Patrick.
“Our guys gave everything they had. Compared to the last time we played Portland, we held on to pucks better and we kept our feet moving. I feel good about the way we are playing.”
Tyson Laventure and Norwegian world junior player Casper Haugen Evensen added a goal and assist each for the Royals with Dawson Pasternak putting up two assists. Portland’s James Stefan decided it at 27 seconds of overtime.
“It stings to lose a game like that but there were definitely some positives,” said Patrick.
