The parade has ended for the Victoria Royals in the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs for the fourth time in the past five years.
The Tri-City Americans advanced to the Western Conference final for the first time since 2012 with a 5-3 victory Wednesday night in Kennewick, Washington, to sweep the Royals, who have never advanced past this stage.
The torrid Americans, who also swept the Kelowna Rockets in the first round, remained undefeated in the post-season at 8-0.
鈥淚 know how much this hurts and I really feel for our guys, all of whom believe they should still be pushing forward in this series,鈥� said Royals coach Dan Price.
鈥淒espite it being 4-0, it was a close series. We鈥檙e very proud of our group and how they played for the fans and the city.鈥�
The Royals opened the scoring but trailed 3-1 Wednesday before levelling the game 3-3. Carolina Hurricanes prospect Morgan Geekie, with his 15th goal of the playoffs, scored the winner at 5:29 of the third period before Riley Sawchuk added the insurance goal.
As in the 6-5 loss in Game 3, when Victoria rallied from a 5-0 deficit to make a game of it, the injury-depleted Royals earned some good reviews Wednesday. But considering their predicament, they didn鈥檛 need moral victories. They needed real ones.
Victoria forward Noah Gregor, recently signed to a three-year NHL entry-level contract by San Jose, showed his worth to the Sharks by scoring twice Wednesday to bump his playoff total to 6 goals in 11 games. Kaid Oliver scored the Royals鈥� other goal.
Griffen Outhouse made 34 saves for Victoria. Patrick Dea, one of Tri-City鈥檚 20-year-olds this season with defenceman Dylan Coghlan from Nanaimo and forward Jordan Topping of Salt Spring Island, made 24 saves for the Amerks.
Victoria鈥檚 task in the playoffs was made much more difficult by its dire injury situation in which three of its top players were missing: Tyler Soy is the all-time franchise leader in goals, assists and points. Tanner Kaspick is a St. Louis Blues-signed forward who carried the Royals for long stretches since being acquired in January. Blue-liner Scott Walford is a third-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens. They were joined on the shelf by Jeff de Wit, denying the Royals their top three centres in Soy, Kaspick and de Wit. A team would need the depth of the Grand Canyon to overcome such losses.
The Royals鈥� graduating 20-year-olds are Soy and blue-liners Chaz Reddekopp and Kade Jensen. Of the 10 19-year-olds, only three can return. Look for Outhouse and forward Dante Hannoun to likely fill two of those slots. The biggest question will be whether the Calgary Flames return Victoria captain Matthew Phillips for his 20-year-old season or move him up to the pros.
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