The Victoria Royals say it鈥檚 their next-man up approach that will carry them through the Western Hockey League playoffs. It has to, if the team is to be successful.
It鈥檚 a familiar script in the Royals鈥� star-crossed and injury-riddled playoff history, in which more times than the franchise cares to remember, it has been on the losing end in the war of attrition.
But it is a self-inflicted, non-injury loss of a key player this time around that might change the trajectory of Victoria鈥檚 opening-round best-of-seven series against the Kamloops Blazers, which is tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 tonight at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre ahead of Game 6 on Monday in Kamloops.
If required, Game 7 would be at the Memorial Centre on Wednesday night.
Royals assistant-captain Kody McDonald has been suspended indefinitely by the league for leaning over from the Victoria bench to swing his stick into the Blazers bench in the 6-3 loss in Kamloops on Wednesday. With team leading-scorer Kaid Oliver out for likely the entire series with an upper-body injury, the Royals are without their top-two forwards.
鈥淜ody is a good player and a leader in the room, but we have the mentality of the next man up,鈥� said Royals import-forward Phillip Schultz, who has played in two world junior championships for Denmark.
鈥淣ow it鈥檚 time to step up. This will make us a stronger and closer group.鈥�
Victoria head coach Dan Price concurred: 鈥淸The McDonald suspension] has galvanized our group and created a bond. When one player goes down, the next player steps up. That鈥檚 the way this team has been built by [general-manager] Cam Hope.鈥�
The players seem unfazed by how rugged and rough the series has been to date.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just playoff hockey between two teams who want to win,鈥� said Schultz, whose style is more conducive to the North American game than the less-physical European approach.
Price concurred: 鈥淵ou have two playoff teams in a physical division in a physical conference in a physical league.鈥�
Yet, with the McDonald issue, the Royals have been given a vivid lesson in not responding to Kamloops鈥� goading.
鈥淲e have to keep control of our emotions,鈥� said Price.
鈥淭he other big thing is consistency and staying steady and sticking together and sticking with the game plan.鈥�
The latter have been the hallmarks of a Royals team that surprised most pundits around the WHL by placing second in the sa国际传媒 Division during the regular season.
鈥淲e鈥檝e always had a next-up approach,鈥� said Royals blueliner Scott Walford, a third-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, who has been outstanding in the series.
鈥淧lacing second in our division was a big accomplishment considering all the injuries we had this season.
鈥淚f at the beginning of the season, you would have told us we would be in basically a best-of-three playoff situation with home-ice advantage, we would have taken it in a heartbeat.鈥�
A story line in the series is how the sa国际传媒 Division third-seed Blazers seem to be getting under the skin of the Royals.
鈥淲e only have to worry about ourselves and how we play,鈥� said Walford.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a roller-coaster. You have two good teams playing for their seasons. We just have to focus on playing hockey the way we play it.鈥�
The goaltending in the series, in both creases, has been very strong. Although he is a 20-year-old veteran, these have been the first career playoff games played by Blazers goaltender Dylan Ferguson of Lantzville.
鈥淚t feels like a whole new season and the energy around this series has been awesome. And playing on the Island has made it all that more exciting for me,鈥� said Ferguson.
鈥淭he intensity is definitely high and we have to pick up where we left off in Game 4 when all four of our forward lines were clicking,鈥� added the NHL-signed Island product, who is a Las Vegas Golden Knights prospect.
There are no secrets when teams get to the latter stages of a playoff series.
鈥淲e know what Kamloops鈥� game plan is and they know what ours is,鈥� said Schultz.
鈥淭he team which executes its game plan the best will win.鈥�
