It was a big night Wednesday for the Victoria Royals on two fronts. About 4,000 kilometres to the east in Oshawa, Ont., Royals star Cole Reschny scored the winning goal for the Canadian Hockey League against the USA U-18 team in the second game of the CHL-USA Prospects Challenge.
While Reschny, ranked for the first round of the 2025 NHL draft was celebrating in Oshawa, the rest of the Royals were also jubilant in a 3-2 Western Hockey League victory over the Silvertips in Everett, Washington.
The Royals gave the WHL-leading Silvertips, who are 19-3-3, and ranked No. 4 in the CHL top-10 poll, a shock as San Jose Sharks-drafted defenceman Nate Misskey scored the winner with six seconds remaining in overtime to cap a rally from a 2-0 third-period deficit.
The other hero of the piece was Victoria goaltender Jayden Kraus with 46 saves as Everett outshot Victoria 17-7 in the first and held a 34-12 shots advantage after two frames as the Silvertips got a first-period goal from Rylan Pearce and one on the odd-man from Kaden Hammel in the second. Victoria leveled early in the third period on power-play tallies by Teydon Trembecky, his 11th goal of the season, and Nanaimo-product Brayden Boehm.
The Royals held Silvertips’ prize-rookie defenceman Landon DuPont, only the second player after current Chicago Blackhawks sophomore forward Connor Bedard to receive exceptional status to play in the WHL as a 15-year-old, off the scoresheet.
The Royals (13-8-4) finished their eight-game road trip, their longest of the season, at 4-3-1.
The Royals return to the Memorial Centre on Friday and Saturday nights against the Seattle Thunderbirds (7-13-3 heading into Wednesday).
