With apologies to The Lovin鈥� Spoonful, do you believe in magic?
As in numbers.
For the Victoria Royals, it is down to one.
The 4-3 win over the Prince George Cougars (36-29-5) on Sunday afternoon put the Royals (47-16-6) in position to clinch the Western Hockey League regular-season championship with a victory Wednesday night in Kelowna against the Rockets (46-19-4).
It would be the first Scotty Munro Trophy in the 10-season history of the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals franchise and the first for the city since the 1980-81 Victoria Cougars. The city won its first WHL regular-season crown with the 1974-75 Cougars.
So many things had to go right for this unlikely Royals group in order for this to happen. Everybody knew that Joe Hicketts, Chaz Reddekopp, Ryan Gagnon, Jack Walker and Logan Fisher could provide able veteran leadership. But the young players 鈥� Matthew Phillips, Dante Hannoun, Ralph Jarratt and Scott Walford 鈥� role players such as Regan Nagy, Ryan Peckford, Jared Dmytriw, salvaged players like Alex Forsberg, Vladimir Bobylev, Ethan Price and the goaltending all had to come through. Somehow it did, thanks mainly to the focused coaching of Dave Lowry.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting. We鈥檝e worked hard to be in the position we are in. The regular-season championship is not the main goal but it would be a cool accomplishment,鈥� said Phillips, who set the franchise record for rookie goals with 36 and counting.
The matin茅e win Sunday before 6,769 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre was the 10th consecutive for the Royals, but it didn鈥檛 leave them satisfied to have a 4-0 lead end up in a tight one-goal victory, as the Cougars scored three consecutive goals in the second period before a scoreless third.
鈥淲e let them back into the game. We were not happy with that second period. It was one of our poorest periods,鈥� said Phillips.
鈥淲e have to continue to fine-tune and play our system. There is not much room for error in the playoffs.鈥�
Forsberg鈥檚 28th goal of the season, Bobylev鈥檚 26 and Walker鈥檚 33rd gave Victoria a 3-0 lead Sunday before the game was eight minutes old. Rookie blue-liner Walford鈥檚 first goal of the season made it 4-0 on the power play at 8:18 of the second period before the Cougars finally came off the ropes to make a game of it on two goals by Brad Morrison and another from former Royals forward Luke Harrison.
Coleman Vollrath made 15 saves for Victoria, while the Royals put 31 shots on the Prince George net.
鈥淲e got away from some of the things we have been doing well,鈥� said veteran blue-liner Hicketts. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to continue to build and grow heading into this final week.鈥�
The regular-season concludes with a two-game set against the Silvertips on Friday in Everett, Washington, and Saturday on Blanshard Street. And it鈥檚 looking more and more like the Royals are heading toward a first-round playoff matchup with the Spokane Chiefs.
鈥淲e would like to have the best record to establish home-ice advantage in the playoffs,鈥� added Hicketts, a signed prospect of the Detroit Red Wings. 鈥淲e are not going to be judged by the regular season but by the playoffs.鈥�
So even with the Scotty Munro Trophy awaiting delivery, there is a sense in the Royals camp of keeping an even keel.
鈥淲e have to stay focused and can鈥檛 get too high or look ahead too far,鈥� said Peckford, the rookie centre from Stony Plain, Alberta.
鈥淲e have to keep going one step at a time.鈥�
