VANCOUVER 3
VICTORIA 1
听
With four Western Hockey League games remaining in the regular season, the end game is in view for the Victoria Royals.
The Royals lost 3-1 to the Vancouver Giants in a largely meaningless game 鈥� at least in terms of the tables 鈥� Saturday evening before 6,184 fans at the PNE Pacific Coliseum.
Don Hay鈥檚 Giants (20-47-2), in a low phase after some halcyon past seasons, will miss the playoffs for the first time since the franchise鈥檚 inaugural season in 2001-02 but have now won five times in the last seven games. The Royals are guaranteed to finish sixth in the Western Conference and will meet the third seed,听now certain to be the Kamloops Blazers, in the first round of the playoffs.
鈥淥bviously, we would have liked to have won and were disappointed we didn鈥檛,鈥� said Royals head coach Dave Lowry, who had to overcome five players out with injuries 鈥� including leading-scorer Alex Gogolev and captain Tyler Stahl 鈥� and one to suspension.
鈥淏ut we鈥檝e got to learn to play at the start of games. We weren鈥檛 moving our feet or generating much in the first period.鈥�
That despite an early Victoria lead at 33 seconds into the game thanks to a power-play counter by the always-opportunistic Jamie Crooks, with his 33rd goal of the season.
The Royals this weekend were stressing the intangibles of momentum.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to be walking into the playoffs. We want to be going in with things rolling,鈥� said Victoria forward Ben Walker, after Friday night鈥檚 5-3 home victory over the Giants that snapped an 11-game Royals winless streak.
Saturday鈥檚 game in Vancouver had significance for the team record book as the Royals were denied the franchise standard for the most wins in a season, currently held at 33 by this current team and the 2010-11 edition when the club was located in Chilliwack and known as the Bruins.
Jackson Houck scored twice to lead Vancouver, including an empty-netter.
Coleman Vollrath made 37 saves in goal for the Royals and Payton Lee just 20 for the Giants, although it was Lee who was named game first star as Victoria managed some quality chances.
Victoria took the 10-game season series against Vancouver 7-3.
The Royals are back across the strait to host the league-best Portland Winterhawks today at 5 p.m. in a game that is nearing sold-out status at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre as knowledgeable Island hockey fans clamber to get a glimpse of the star-laden Winterhawks, including the consensus projected No. 1 NHL 2013 draft pick Seth Jones.
鈥淲e need to be ready to go at the very beginning of the game,鈥� stressed Lowry.
鈥淔or us, this [Winterhawks game]听is a really big test.鈥�
The Royals meet the Winterhawks again Tuesday night on Blanshard before concluding the regular season with a home-and-away set against the Everett Silvertips next weekend.
