The Victoria Royals playoff hopes took a crushing sudden turn Friday night, thanks to a basketball-style buzzer-beater loss to the Blazers in Kamloops.
The Royals were short-staffed but not short of heart. But that really doesn’t matter at this point of the Western Hockey League season. The only thing that does is wins. And the Royals didn’t get one — or even the chance to nick a point in overtime or shootout — when Matthew Seminoff scored with just four seconds remaining in the third period to give Kamloops a 4-3 victory before 3,665 fans at Sandman Place.
“Whether the winner comes with four seconds or 14 minutes left, that’s the randomness of hockey,” said Victoria coach Dan Price.
“We played our best game of the season. It was a lucky bounce on heavy ice over our players’ stick and their skilled players converted it.”
Moral victories are now pointless for Victoria, literally and figuratively. How the team recovers from this disheartening blow will define their season. “Now you learn how strong you are,” said Price.
Victoria is down to three regular-season games remaining in its desperate bid to earn a playoff berth. The Royals, Spokane Chiefs, Vancouver Giants and Prince George Cougars are vying for the final three berths into the Western Conference post-season with just two points separating them all.
But four into three won’t go, so one of those teams will be on the outside and looking into the post-season and wondering what if.
The Royals were missing four key players. Captain Tarun Fizer was sitting out the second game of a three-game suspension for kneeing. Swiss world junior player Keanu Derungs and fellow-forward Caleb Willms were known injuries but the late scratching of fourth-round NHL draft pick blue-liner Gannon Laroque was a pre-game surprise scratch and not a pleasant one for Victoria. This is a most inopportune scenario for the Royals when every point is critical.
Scoring for Victoria was Brayden Schuurman, on the power play with his 29th goal of the season on a two-point night, and Bailey Peach with two goals, one on the power play, to push his team-leading total to 36 goals.
World junior sa国际传媒 silver-medallist goaltender Dylan Garand of Langford, who is under NHL contract to the New York Rangers, made 17 saves for the Blazers. Tyler Palmer blocked 26 shots for the Royals.
The Blazers (47-16-2) finished 13-0 on the season against the Royals (22-37-6) with no loss more devastating than the last one.
Victoria meets the Cougars tonight in Prince George and closes out at home with two games against the Chiefs next weekend at the Memorial Centre. All three are now pretty much must-win games.
Kamloops is one of five Western Conference clubs to have clinched a playoff berth along with the Everett Silvertips, Portland Winterhawks, Seattle Thunderbirds and Kelowna Rockets.
