A letdown Sunday from the Sportsnet national-exposure Hockey Day in Canada high of Saturday was perhaps inevitable and to be expected for the Victoria Royals. But nobody could have anticipated this much of a drop-off as the Royals followed the previous night’s 7-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers, in front of a large and boisterous crowd of more than 6,000, with a subdued 6-2 matinee loss Sunday afternoon before a gathering announced at 3,850.
Royals head coach James Patrick received national attention last week when he was interviewed by Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts podcast recorded at Wicket Hall. Patrick told the national audience that hockey is about “who has the puck and who wants the puck.”
His Royals wanted the puck on Saturday but not so much Sunday as the Blazers, last in the entire WHL at 11-28-5, parlayed a 3-2 first-period lead into a blowout with three goals in the final eight minutes of the third period.
The Royals (24-15-6) should have been wary about a potential drop in energy and excitement from the day before but seemingly couldn’t avoid it just the same.
“They [Blazers] wanted it more than us in the first period. That first period set the tone for the game,” said Patrick, in the media scrum following the Sunday game.
“They outhit us. They were way more physical than us. We didn’t stop on pucks. We were light on pucks.”
Patrick wasn’t a big fan of the third-period effort, either, especially the last two goals allowed: “The last four minutes were an example of how the whole game went for us, when a guy beats three guys to score an empty-net goal and then we throw a blind no-look pass across the blue line for a breakaway [Kamloops goal]. I get they were meaningless goals [at that point]. But to get outworked is really disappointing.”
Royals forward Tanner Scott and new-acquisition Tyson Laventure, acquired this month in a trade from the Swift Current Broncos, both scored their 17th goals of the season. Blake Swetlikoff had two goals and two assists for Kamloops, which this season went into full rebuild mode by trading away its captain and NHL Toronto Maple Leafs second-round draft pick Fraser Minten to Saskatoon in exchange for the Blades’ first-round WHL prospects draft picks in 2024 and 2025.
Victoria now prepares for three consecutive games against the Vancouver Giants (18-24-2), beginning Friday night at the Langley Events Centre, followed by back-to-back games Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at the Memorial Centre. After Sunday’s dud, the Royals players better get ready for a grueling week of training.
“It’s going to be a lot of work. It’s just going to be work,” said Patrick.
“We’re going to have to start working hard in practice so it carries over into games.”
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