The adage about West Coast weather is if you don’t like it, just wait five minutes. The Victoria Royals have been riffing off that this Western Hockey League season — if you don’t like the score in the third period, just wait a few minutes.
The Royals, trailing 4-1 in the final period, rallied to beat the Saskatoon Blades 5-4 in a shootout Sunday afternoon before 4,260 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. But it cuts both ways. That came after Victoria led 2-0 heading into the third period on Friday night at the Memorial Centre only to have the Moose Jaw Warriors score four unanswered goals in the final frame to shock the Royals 4-2.
Victoria (9-4-2) got two goals each in regulation time from Cole Reschny and Markus Loponen on Sunday against the Eastern Conference-leading Blades (10-3-2). Logan Pickford scored the shootout winner in the fourth round, the second time this season he has scored the shootout decider in extra rounds.
“We just keep going and believing that we can get back in,” said Loponen, a fifth-round NHL draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets.
“This was a big bounce-back game for us [from Friday against Moose Jaw].”
Reschny, ranked for the first round of the 2025 NHL draft by Central Scouting, tied it 4-4 at 18:22 of the third period with his second goal of the game. It was the second time this season the elusive and deceptive centre has tied a game late with the goaltender pulled, adding to his last-minute marker Oct. 23 in Kelowna. But leaving it to the brink is playing a dangerous game.
“It’s a bit of inconsistency on our part and something we have to figure out,” said Reschny.
“But it’s always good when you can battle back. We know we have a group here that will never quit. We can come back and people have seen it. That’s just believing in each other and believing in ourselves. We’ve proved we can do it, so it’s always a possibility. We’ve always got a chance. Having a never-quit mentality is a big part of it. Everyone is buying in, sticking to the process, and never giving up on ourselves.”
The Royals had only Monday as a down day before facing the Kamloops Blazers (6-8-1) tonight and Wednesday night at the Memorial Centre.
“Blazers are a good team and we’ve got to bring our best game,” said Reschny.
“Especially since we gave them one in their barn.”
The Blazers got a 6-3 win Oct. 22 in Kamloops after Victoria took a 2-0 lead before Nathan Behm, ranked for the second or third rounds of the 2025 NHL draft, keyed the Kamloops comeback with a hat-trick on a six-point night.
Victoria is 1-1 this season against the Blazers, including a 5-2 win in Kamloops on Sept. 28. The contests tonight and Wednesday close out Victoria’s four-games-in-six-days homestand.
“This is [Blazers] first time coming here so this is going to be a big test for us, especially with a lot of games in a short amount of time,” said Reschny.
“We have to play our game and our style.”
After the two-step against the Blazers on Blanshard, the Royals will embark on their longest road trip of the season, from Saturday in Seattle to Nov. 27 in Everett, with an entire Eastern Division swing sandwiched between.
