They arrived home in the team bus, not a DeLorean. But it鈥檚 Back To Blanshard for the decider.
The Victoria Royals forced a Game 7, to be played tonight at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, in their WHL Western Conference semifinal series by edging the Kelowna Rockets 3-2 on Sunday evening at Prospera Place in the Okanagan.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a sold-out barn [tonight in Victoria] and it鈥檚 going to be rocking,鈥� said Victoria defenceman Joe Hicketts.
It was the same in Kelowna on Sunday but the Royals silenced the crowd by taking a 3-0 lead.
鈥淚t was a great team effort,鈥� said Royals head coach Dave Lowry, of the win-or-be eliminated scenario his club faced.
鈥淲e had to play our best game and we did. It was a really good job of laying it all on the line. You do what you can to prolong the season.鈥�
A big part of it was the redemptive play in Game 6 of Hicketts, whose glaring turnover in Game 5 on Friday led to Kelowna鈥檚 winning goal in the third period with the score tied 1-1. Hicketts rebounded with two assists and an all-encompassing effort Sunday.
鈥淚 was feeling a little down [after Friday], and the boys picked me up,鈥� said Hicketts.
鈥淚 wanted to give them a strong game.鈥�
And he did.
鈥淛oe was a darn good player [Sunday] night,鈥� said Lowry.
Going the limit adds to what has already been a compelling series plotline as the surprisingly ascendant Royals are the 2015-16 WHL regular-season champions and the Rockets the defending WHL playoff champions.
The mind games have already started for Game 7.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no pressure on us,鈥� said Lowry.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 even in the conversation to be here at this time of year,鈥� he added, noting Victoria鈥檚 also-ran status in most pre-season prognostications.
鈥淜elowna is the defending league champion and only lost the Memorial Cup [national] championship game last year in overtime. The pressure is all on them.鈥�
It must be noted, however, that the Rockets lost several key players to graduation from last year鈥檚 team although they do return 14 players who have been through the crucible of last year鈥檚 lengthy playoff run.
Everything that went wrong for Victoria in Friday鈥檚 4-1 home loss went right on Sunday. The Royals applied intense pressure early in both games. All they had to show for it Friday was a 10-2 shots advantage but a scoreless opening period and a sense of opportunities missed. The first-period push on Sunday 鈥� Victoria held a 16-9 shots advantage 鈥� paid off with Royals goals by Jack Walker with his eighth of the playoffs at 9:03 and Tyler Soy with his sixth at 17:08.
鈥淲e skated,鈥� said Lowry, of his team鈥檚 up-tempo game.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we needed to do.鈥�
Regan Nagy pushed it to a 3-0 advantage at 15:40 of the second period before defenceman Cal Foote finally got Kelowna on the board at 19:43. Justin Kirkland鈥檚 sixth goal of the post-season pulled the Rockets to within one at 3:12 of the third period but they would get no closer.
The swift and opportunistic Walker had a two-point night.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to play desperate again [tonight],鈥� he said.
鈥淕ame 7 is a new experience for everyone on our team.鈥�
Veteran Coleman Vollrath took the win in goal for Victoria with 25 saves. Michael Herringer, from the Comox Valley, made 33 saves for Kelowna and continued to be a series talking point. Herringer was named second star of the game Sunday after first-star Walker and ahead of third-star Hicketts.
Victoria鈥檚 power play, 0-10 in the previous two games, was still problematic at 1-7 Sunday. It was the first power-play goal for Victoria in 16 attempts. But the importance of that odd-play counter by Soy can鈥檛 be underestimated coming when it did to help stamp Victoria鈥檚 imprint on the game.
鈥淭he power play is going to be one of the keys in Game 7,鈥� said Walker.
Sunday followed a trend with five of the six games in the series decided by one goal.
The Rockets have already been through a Game 7 this year, edging Kamloops in overtime, in the deciding game of their opening-round series. But the Royals feel they have been through a reasonable facsimile, too.
鈥淪unday night was essentially a Game 7 for us because we faced elimination,鈥� noted Lowry.
The Royals remained mum on the playing status of key forwards Alex Forsberg and Vladimir Bobylev. Forsberg left Sunday鈥檚 game under some physical duress after absorbing a check, while Bobylev has yet to play in the series.
The winner tonight will advance to play the Seattle Thunderbirds in the best-of-seven Western Conference final.
The Royals are looking for their first conference final appearance in the 10 seasons of Victoria Royals-Chilliwack Bruins franchise history. The Rockets are hoping to advance to their third consecutive conference final.
