Royals intend to leave it all on the ice

Victoria must win two in a row to stay in WHL playoffs

The Victoria Royals have advanced to the second round of the WHL playoffs the past three seasons but no further, hence their 2017 post-season slogan “Unfinished Business.”

But even that second-round benchmark is in jeopardy this year.

The Royals must win against the Everett Silvertips this afternoon, in a 2 p.m. home matinée, in Game 6, and again Tuesday in a potential Game 7 in Everett in order to get to the second phase.

But give the eighth-seed Royals credit for even being in this position against the Western Conference top-seed Silvertips in their best-of-seven opening-round series. Everett leads 3-2, but it could just as easily have been 3-2 the other way. The Royals have given the conference champions all they can handle. It was a oneshot game in overtime in Game 5 on Friday as the series hung in a precarious balance.

That’s when the Royals relearned a basic sports lesson: Play to the whistle.

Two Royals put up their arms to indicate offside, but that’s not their job. Even some of the Silvertips appeared to hesitate, perhaps expecting a stoppage.

But an alert Eetu Tuulola played through and shot the winning goal to give the Silvertips the series lead.

It can be that fine a line in the playoffs.

“From my angle, it looked offside. But viewing it later, it was the correct call,” Victoria GM Cam Hope said.

The Royals still have a lifeline. It’s called Game 6. Then there’s possibly another. It’s called Game 7. The beauty of the playoffs is you control your own destiny.

“Somebody has to be up 3-2 in a series so tight,” Hope said.

“It reminds me of last year, when we went into Kelowna down 3-2 in the [second-round] series and won that Game 6.”

Although everybody remembers 0.2 and how that eventual Game 7 ended last year. It’s the main part of this year’s “Unfinished Business” tagline.

“The guys were deflated after that overtime goal Friday in Everett, but that’s part of the game, and the demeanour now in our room is one of excitement as we focus on Game 6,” Royals captain Ryan Gagnon said.

Today could be the final game in 20-year-old Gagnon’s fine fiveyear Royals blueline career.

“Our backs are against the wall and we are going to leave it all out there,” he said. There is no other option. “The playoffs are about staying in the moment,” Royals coach Dave Lowry said.

And staying out of the box. The difference in the series has been Everett’s eight power-play goals.

“We have to keep it five-onfive. Their power play has hurt us,” Lowry said.

Meanwhile, it does not bode well for key injured Royals Jack Walker, Scott Walford and Ethan Price for the rest of the series.

“We’ll see how they are. I have no indication they are ready to come back,” Hope said.

It would be an especially melancholic way for 20-year-old Walker to end his Royals career after five seasons of puncturing defences all over the WHL with his speed.

The winner of the VictoriaEverett series will advance to a second-round series against Mathew Barzal and the Seattle Thunderbirds, who swept the Tri City Americans 4-0.