NOW WE’VE GOT A RIVALRY
Royals force Game 7 with Giants
The Victoria Royals went from apparent jeopardy to elation in the span of a few seconds on Easter Monday.
The Vancouver Giants had the Royals hemmed in their own zone for the early portion of overtime at the Langley Events Centre.
Victoria escaped unscathed, came down the ice and scored on their lone foray into Vancouver territory at 7:06 to secure a 4-3 win in Game 6 of the opening-round WHL playoff series.
The Giants outshot the visitors 6-1 in OT.
The Royals’ victory knotted the best-of-seven set at 3-3. The deciding game is set for tonight at the Save- On-Foods Memorial Centre.
Noah Gregor converted that lone OT attempt for Victoria, rifling home a blast from the left wing to seal the dramatic deal.
The Giants were buzzing in the Victoria end before that. A deflected puck caught Victoria defenceman Ralph Jarratt in the mouth. He went down on the ice for a couple of seconds before pulling himself to his feet, but seemed to labour.
The game seemed destined for one of those odd situations that overtime games all too often end on.
Tyler Benson, Vancouver’s captain, cut through the middle with the puck, past a couple of Royals including the obviously hurting Jarratt.
Benson fired just wide.
The puck ended up coming out the zone. Victoria sniper Matthew Phillips took it down the left wing and left it for Gregor, who fired a shot past Vancouver goaltender David Tendeck.
The winner of this series has home-ice advantage against the Tri-City Americans. Nothing is confirmed, but there was talk around the rink of that series beginning as early as Thursday. That’s the main story. Here’s what else we learned in Langley:
RONNING CONNECTS
Ty Ronning, the Giants’ 61-goal man from the regular season, bagged his first of this series at 6:10 of the third period. Benson counted his second of the night and third of the series at 14:37 to force the extra session.
Phillips had two goals and two assists for Victoria. Griffen Outhouse made 40 saves in the Royals’ net. Tendeck stopped 16 pucks.
IMPRESSIVE CROWD
The Monday afternoon playoff game worked out in terms of attendance for Vancouver, with a crowd of 4,344 showing up.
A couple of the suites were a little empty, though.
HANNOUN CELEBRATES
Dante Hannoun’s second-period goal, which tied the game at 1-1, ruffled some feathers at the LEC, with the puck going in after a clear kicking motion.
Hannoun even celebrated by pointing at his skate while heading back toward centre ice.
A kicking motion outside the crease is legal in the WHL.
LINE JUGGLING
With Tyler Soy (upper body injury) out again for Victoria, the Royals needed a replacement to play on their top line with Phillips and Hannoun. Coach Dan Price opted for Gregor for much of Monday’s game. Hannoun took the majority of the faceoffs.
The Royals were also without centre Tanner Kaspick (upper body injury), winger Dino Kambeitz (upper body injury) and defenceman Scott Walford (undisclosed injury).
Vancouver was without left winger Brayden Watts, who hasn’t played since leaving Game 2 after a hit by Victoria defenceman Chaz Reddekopp.
Vancouver opted to go with 11 forwards and seven defencemen on Monday for the second straight game, instead of the traditional 12:6 ratio. Kaleb Bulych and Alex Kannok Leipert, both right-handed shots, platooned in the sixth position.
AGAINST ALL ODDS?
Vancouver’s last series-winning game in the playoffs came April 13, 2010, when they upended the Winterhawks 3-1 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland to take that second-round set in six games. Vancouver goals that night came from Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Vincour and James Henry.
The Giants lost in six games to the Americans in the Western Conference Final.
Since then, Vancouver has missed the playoffs four times (2013, 2015-17) and lost in the first round three times (2011-12, 2014).