Royals have hands full with top team in conference
Victoria Royals forward Carson Miller tries for a rebound between Everett Silvertips defenceman Sahvan Khaira and goaltender Dustin Wolf in a Western Hockey League game at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Saturday. The Royals’ four-game winning streak ended in a 3-0 loss to the Western Conference-leading Silvertips.
More disparate places you couldn’t hope to find than Puget Sound and northern Saskatchewan. But they point out the breadth and reach of the Western Hockey League across the western portion of the continent.
It could be quite the longdistance, cross-border affair if form holds into the spring and the respective Western and Eastern conference-leading Everett Silvertips and Prince Albert Raiders meet in the 2019 WHL final to decide who will represent the league in the Memorial Cup in Halifax.
But there’s a lot of hockey to be played before that. That was shown Saturday night as the Victoria Royals, trailing 1-0 after two periods, gave Everett all it could handle in a 3-0 loss to the Silvertips (33-9-2) before 4,913 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The result snapped a four-game winning streak by Victoria (22-16-1).
Everett GM Garry Davidson, former GM and head coach in the BCHL of both the Victoria Salsa and Nanaimo Clippers, has built a massive team in terms of size with 16 players listed as six-feet or taller and 10 of them six-footone and beyond. And they can skate. The defending Western Conference-champion Silvertips made it to the WHL final last season before bowing out against the Swift Current Broncos. But while the Broncos became a spent force and have gone into the ditch this season after winning their first league title in 25 years, the ’Tips are back as a contender as the No. 4-ranked team in the CHL to top-ranked Prince Albert.
Over-age forward Zack Andrusiak, acquired from the cross-town Seattle Thunderbirds at the trade deadline, scored his fourth goal in six games for the ’Tips and 31st of the season at 1:36 of the second period. Justyn Gurney, on a deflected fluke floater, gave Everett the insurance in the third period and Reece Vitelli added to it.
Dustin Wolf recorded the 29-save shutout while Griffen Outhouse blocked 27 shots for Victoria.
The Royals are 9-4 in their last 13 games and continue their draining stretch of four-games in five days with their third game in a row this afternoon in Langley against the B.C. Division-leading Vancouver Giants.
ICE CHIPS: It must have been a weird feeling going against ’Tips green Saturday for Victoria bantam draft pick Alex Bolshakov, the Seattle native and Royals call-up from the Everett Junior Silvertips U-16 team . . . Forward Jeff Faith of the Kamloops Blazers was handed a five-game suspension by the league for his hit to the head on Victoria defenceman Remy Aquilon in Wednesday’s 5-3 Royals win. Aquilon was injured and did not play Saturday against Everett or in Friday’s 4-1 win over Kamloops . . . Jake Kustra of the Royals, who displayed some moxie in a second-period fight with Kamloops’ Ryley Appeit on Friday, did not dress Saturday.