The Victoria Royals are headed to the Okanagan with a 2-0 lead in their Western Hockey League second-round playoff series against the Kelowna Rockets.
Despite being without injured captain Joe Hicketts, the Royals once again found a way to win, defeating Kelowna 3-2 before 7,006 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Saturday night. The series began with a 2-1 Royals victory on Thursday.
The third and fourth games will be played Tuesday and Thursday at Prospera Place in Kelowna. Both games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and can be watched live on Shaw-TV.
If necessary, the teams will be back on Blanshard Street for a fifth game Friday night.
The Rockets are the defending WHL champions and were the finalists in last year鈥檚 Memorial Cup game, though they have lost several key players since then.
The Royals, the Scotty Munro Trophy winners with the most wins in the 2015-16 regular season with 50, are in the second round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year.
If Victoria advances to the third round, it will be a franchise first.
