From rapture to rupture in 0.2 seconds.
鈥淚t was like one arrow through 7,000 hearts all at once,鈥� said Victoria Royals GM Cam Hope.
It was little consolation Wednesday to the Royals that they were part of a Western Hockey League playoff series against the Kelowna Rockets that is being rated an instant classic. Or that, in a surprising season, they brought a bit of a smile to a city otherwise starting to look a little tawdry around the edges.
On locker clean-out day at the Memorial Centre, the description-defying Game 7 Western Conference loss to the Rockets the night before in the jammed rink was still too fresh a wound. It will take a while yet to heal. It isn鈥檛 often you have practically one skate blade already in the next round, only to have it yanked back with such suddenness.
鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 sunk in that it鈥檚 over,鈥� said Royals goaltender Coleman Vollrath, who was beaten for the tying goal by Justin Kirkland with just 0.2 seconds remaining in regulation time, and then in overtime for the winning goal by Swiss-import Calvin Thurkauf, as the Rockets rallied from trailing 2-0 heading into the third period.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 sleep a wink afterwards. I watched the sunrise over Victoria,鈥� added Vollrath.
The immediate aftermath was even harder to take.
鈥淚t was very emotional after the game and a lot of us were crying,鈥� said Vollrath.
Victoria defenceman Joe Hicketts said he can鈥檛 bear to bring himself to watch the highlights of Game 7.
鈥淢aybe I鈥檒l watch next week,鈥� he said.
By then, the Rockets and Seattle Thunderbirds well be well into a Western Conference final to which the regular-season champion Royals thought they were headed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still unbelievable to me,鈥� said Hicketts.
鈥淲e worked so hard all season to put ourselves in position to advance to the third round [for the first time in franchise history].鈥�
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 hockey. The puck bounces that way sometimes.鈥�
The pain extended to the bench.
鈥淭his was a great year for us moving the franchise forward. But this [Game 7 loss] will never go away,鈥� said head coach Dave Lowry.
鈥淥ur guys are disappointed we couldn鈥檛 continue this. We want to make this a hockey town. We will use this experience moving forward. Kelowna had 14 guys who went to the Memorial Cup last year and they drew on that experience [Tuesday] night when they were down 2-0 with 20 minutes remaining. We have a young group. We鈥檒l be a better team moving forward because of this Game 7 experience.鈥�
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
