It’s a race again for the Victoria Royals against a dwindling Western Hockey League calendar.
The Royals had a five-game winning streak snapped in a 3-0 loss to the Prince George Cougars before 3,195 subdued fans Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Eight teams will make the playoffs in the Western Conference. The previously-reeling Cougars (21-35-3), who won for just the fourth time in 23 games, moved into sole possession of eighth place and to within five points of the Royals with four games in hand. Victoria, however, got help on the out-of-town scoreboard. The Spokane Chiefs, losers against 10th-place Tri-City, slipped to ninth place and remained seven points in arrears of Victoria with two games in hand. The Vancouver Giants lost to the Seattle Thunderbirds to remain tied in sixth place with the Royals but with four games in hand on Victoria.
The Royals (22-35-6) have played the most games in the Western Conference and are down to five left, beginning next Saturday in Kelowna against the Rockets. Three of the remaining Victoria contests are four-point swing games with one in Prince George and two at home against Spokane to conclude the regular season.
The result Saturday may prove costly for Victoria in more than just the standings. A five-minute major and game misconduct incurred in the final minutes by Victoria captain Tarun Fizer for kneeing, with Cougars forward Blake Eastman having to be helped off the ice, will almost certainly be looked at by the league. Losing their captain down the stretch to a suspension could change the trajectory of the whole race for the Royals.
Hapless special-teams play sank the Royals on Saturday. The Victoria power play, absolutely lost out there even through the winning streak, had three consecutive chances in the first 15 minutes of the game. Not only did it fail to score but it gave up a shorthanded goal by Craig Armstrong. It took the Cougars all of 23 seconds to score on their first power play as Riley Heidt counted his third goal in two nights, following up his brace in Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Royals, to again show why he is projected to go high in the 2023 NHL draft. Eastman scored the other Cougars goal.
Tyler Brennan, the top-rated North American goaltender for the 2022 NHL draft who earlier in the week was in Kitchener, Ont., for the CHL Top Prospects game, recorded the shutout with 24 saves. Campbell Arnold made 16 saves for the Royals.
“The three straight power plays in the first period were important moments and you have to take advantage of those,” said Royal coach Dan Price.
“Killing off those, and scoring shorthanded while at it, was a big momentum boost for Prince George.”
The Royals were clearly showing the effects of their fourth game in five nights while the Cougars came into the two-game set after a week off.
“We will never use fatigue as an excuse but it was a lesson that you have to fight throught it,” said Price.
