It鈥檚 Royals-Giants: The Prequel.
Victoria and Vancouver will likely meet in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. Their three-game weekend set 鈥� tonight at the Langley Events Centre and Saturday and Sunday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre 鈥� will probably decide which team gets home-ice advantage in the post-season.
The sa国际传媒 Division third-place Giants (30-21-5), who had an 11-game winning streak snapped in their last outing, are two points behind second-place Victoria with two games in hand. Both the Royals and Giants have clinched playoff berths.
Possibly complicating matters are the suddenly alive Kelowna Rockets, 3-1-1 in their last five games. But the Rockets trail Vancouver by six points and Victoria by eight with only 10 games remaining and are running out of time.
Most pundits are anticipating a third consecutive post-season meeting between the Royals and Giants after Victoria won in seven games in the first round in 2018 and Vancouver in four games in the second round last year.
Home ice will be important but it鈥檚 a relative thing to Royals forward Sean Gulka, who grew up in Langley, a stone鈥檚 throw away from the LEC. There will be a large Royals cheering section of Gulka family and friends tonight as Sean returns to the Victoria lineup after missing 16 games due to a concussion.
鈥淚 have a lot of family and they always show up at the LEC when we play the Giants,鈥� said Gulka.
So the timing for his return couldn鈥檛 be better.
鈥淚t was frustrating to be out,鈥� said Gulka.
鈥淚t sucks. But that鈥檚 hockey and that鈥檚 life. You just have to stay calm and focused on the long-term.鈥�
Modern sports medicine knows you don鈥檛 mess with a concussion.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to play it safe with a head injury,鈥� added Gulka.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 rush it. There are a lot of steps to take [in healing] and you have to take them.鈥�
In many ways, Gulka is the prototype forward for the way the Royals play. The six-foot-three, grinding fore-checker has nine goals and 17 points in 37 games this season. He turned 20 this month and certainly has a veteran鈥檚 perspective after starting his junior career with two seasons on the hometown Langley Rivermen of the sa国际传媒 Hockey League and now two with the Royals.
鈥淚t was frustrating for Sean to be out and for us not to have him,鈥� said Royals head coach Dan Price.
鈥淚 agree [with the premise] that he is prototypically, a 200-foot Royals-type player.鈥�
The team captain agrees.
鈥淪ean is a physical presence on our offence and we鈥檙e excited he鈥檚 back,鈥� said Phillip Schultz.
Royals forward Gary Haden concurred: 鈥淪ean Gulka is a big element of our top six.鈥�
And returning not a moment too soon.
Although playoff berths have been clinched, the three-game Royals-Giants set is far from meaningless.
鈥淭here is not an exhibition-like feel to this. Home ice for the playoffs is on the line, so no one is going to hold anything back,鈥� said Victoria bench boss Price.
鈥淚t is going to be intense.鈥�
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