With apologies to John Hughes and Molly Ringwald, if not the Psychedelic Furs, the Victoria Royals were Pretty in Pink for much of Friday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
But not enough, losing 2-1 in overtime to the Vancouver Giants, before 5,186 fans on Pink in the Rink Night to raise funds for breast cancer research.
Ethan Semeniuk gave the outplayed Giants victory at 3:16 of extra time in the Western Hockey League game.
Teague Patton scored for the Royals at 15:01 of the second game. Sammy May tied it for Vancouver at 2:55 of the third period.
Jesper Vikman, who has represented Sweden in the world junior championship, showed why he is an NHL goaltending prospect for the Las Vegas Golden Knights with a 37-save performance to prove the difference for the Giants. Braden Holt was required only to make 20 saves for Victoria.
The Royals, however, got some much-needed help on the out-of-town scoreboard with the Kelowna Rockets losing 9-2 to the Prince George Cougars. Ninth-place Victoria has 16 games remaining and is chasing Kelowna for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference with the Rockets three points ahead of the Royals with three games in hand.
“It feels like the playoffs right now because virtually it is for us,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price, before the game.
The Royals could bring the seventh-place Giants, 12 points ahead of Victoria with two games in hand, into play but that seems unlikely now.
Victoria is 1-3-3 against Vancouver this season. Both teams have struggled of late. The Giants are 4-7 in their last 11 games but appear to have enough of a cushion in the standings to withstand the slide. The Royals are winless in their last five games and 2-7-2 in their last 11 game, a pace that needs to pick up if they are to make the playoffs.
“We have to win and accrue points,” said Price.
It was an inspired performance by the Royals, considering their injury situation. Victoria’s San Jose Sharks NHL-signed captain Gannon Laroque remains day-to-day, as he has been listed the past four weeks, with no return. Royals’ leading scorer Jake Poole, forward Matthew Hodson and blue-liner and former WHL draft top-10 pick Austin Zemlak all remained out. The only good news was the return of 2022 Canada U-18 forward Brayden Schuurman on Friday night.
The Royals and Giants cross the strait for a game Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.
