VICTORIA聽 4
SPOKANE聽 3
Victoria leads series 2-0
No Joe? No problem 鈥� at least for now.
The Victoria Royals have been remarkably free of injuries this season, which is a rarity in the WHL. But that ended in dramatic fashion Saturday when captain Joe Hicketts did not play. Despite that, the Royals edged the Spokane Chiefs 4-3 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven opening-round playoff series.
鈥淚t鈥檚 day-to-day,鈥� Royals GM Cam Hope said of the Hicketts situation. 鈥淲e鈥檒l see how it goes.鈥�
There were reports that Hicketts had injured a leg.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the playoffs. We don鈥檛 talk about injuries,鈥� Hope said.
Meanwhile, the understated but efficient forward Jack Walker may not be the kind of player to inspire nicknames. But how about the Minnesota Missile? The native of Edina scored twice to key the Royals victory before 6,025 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
That makes today鈥檚 bus trip to eastern Washington, where the second and third games take place Tuesday and Wednesday in Spokane, all that much easier to take. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good going into their arena building up two games,鈥� Walker said.
The Royals, the regular-season league champions, were outshot 33-21 and earned the victory the hard way.
Vladimir Bobylev continued his Steve Nash-like distribution, which is maybe fitting for a guy on a Victoria sports team. Bobylev had three assists and now leads the league in playoff scoring with six points, all assists.
It was Victoria鈥檚 15th consecutive victory, including 13 in the regular season.
Hicketts鈥� absence was compounded by the Royals blue line also being without the reliable veteran Ryan Gagnon to a suspension because of a major penalty and game misconduct he incurred in Fridays night鈥檚 5-3 opening-game Royals win.
It has to be of concern to opponents that Victoria can win even with a strictly average performance while missing two veteran blueliners.
鈥淲e continue to find a way to win games,鈥� Royals coach Dave Lowry said.
鈥淲e keep finding ways to get things done.鈥�
Even with a blueline missing two veterans.
鈥淲e moved the puck and kept things simple,鈥� Lowry said.
Walker noted that the Royals were also missing Hicketts for a stretch earlier in the season.
鈥淲e are used to it . . . and played without Joe when he was playing the world juniors [for sa国际传媒] earlier in the year,鈥� Walker said.
Walker, on a fine set up from Russians Bobylev and Marsel Ibragimov, accelerated down the right side and found the far side to make it 3-2 at 17:27 of the second period.
A well-timed mid-air deflection by Tyler Soy, between the wickets of Chiefs goaltender Lasse Petersen, made it 4-2 at 6:31 of the third period. It was 46-goal regular-season scorer Soy鈥檚 third goal of the playoffs.
Spokane鈥檚 Dominic Zwerger closed scoring. Spokane had a good chance to tie it during a last-gasp scramble.
The game had been tied 2-2 after an earlier goal by Walker, also assisted by Bobylev and rearguard Ibragimov, and another for Victoria by Jared Dmytriw while Jacob Cardiff and Hudson Elynuik replied for Spokane.
Veteran Coleman Vollrath started in the Victoria net. Back-up Petersen played his second game of the series in place of injured Spokane regular Tyson Verhelst, who is reportedly close to returning.
The fifth game, if necessary, is Friday evening back on Blanshard Street.
This is the second first-round playoff meeting in three years between the clubs. Victoria swept the Chiefs 4-0 in 2014.
