Playoffs Begin Now For Royals

The Royals have recently faced all those teams for back to back games over the last few weeks, and were swept in each set. Victoria has been hampered with injuries however, but even with veteran defenceman Nate Misskey and Austin Zemlak returning to the fold for this past weekends games against the Cougars, the club was out scored 16-5.

Their final tune up is a pair of home games against Wenatchee Wednesday and Friday.

“Everyone knows how big these games are. I’ve talked to the team about it, this is the start of the playoffs for us. It really is.” added Patrick,

“We can’t wait to start playing playoff type of hockey, we need it now. It has to be dramatically different than it was last weekend at times. And obviously how important the points are, they’re huge for them and for us.”

The Royals didn’t fare much better against the Winterhawks dropping 6-2 and 5-2 scores on home ice, and a home and home with the Silvertips resulted in only being out scored 10-3 by Everett.

In order to face the Silvertips, they’d need to pass the 6^th place Rockets, as a tie in points wouldn’t be enough as Kelowna would have the first tie breaker, which is wins.

According to the league, if they are tied in wins, it will go to the Club with the most points in games between the two Clubs during the regular schedule. If the two Clubs are still even, the edge goes to the Club with the highest ratio when taking goals for and subtracting goals against in regular season play.

Victoria would also need to win both remaining games against Wenatchee, and rely on some help from Vancouver. That, or Kelowna would have to win both against Vancouver in regulation.

While it looks like they could mathematically jump as high as 5^th as it’s only 4 points up, it’s not possible, as both Vancouver who holds that spot and 6^th seed Kelowna play each other in a home and home to wrap up their seasons, and so a minimum of 4 points will be doled out, putting it out of reach.

“Were it all shakes out and who we’re going to play against, that will be sorted out after the weekend. As much as anything, I want us playing the game the right way.”

As for the health of the group, it’s possible forward Reggie Newman may return to the line up Wednesday.

“We missed Reggie Newman for five games basically because he missed the game he was hurt in. So for him to get his line back intact, that’s important.”

As for defenseman Ryan Spizawka and Hudson Bjornson, it seems unlikely for Wednesday.

“Really hopeful we’ll be closer to our playoff lineup, and we’ll see if that’s the case on (Wednesday) or not.” mentioned Patrick.

Their 200 foot centerman Robin Sapousek has missed over 30 games, as the injury occurred back in December in Sweden, during the World Juniors. Sapousek has been in Victoria skating and practicing over the past few weeks.

“I’m hoping as much as anyone else…” said Patrick when pressed if they’d see #21 back in the line up at some point.

“He is on a schedule. Right now I would say he’s week to week, certainly not day to day. So I’m not expecting him back anytime soon, we’ll probably evaluate him a week from now.”

The club has also recalled defenceman and fourth overall prospect selection Keaton Verhoeff, 15, who’s been exciting to watch in his games as an affiliate, being paired up with Justin Kipkie. This should bolster the club on the back end, being much deeper on defense, while having Zemlak and Misskey shake off some rust last weekend.

“Super excited,” said Zemlak about the anticipation of playing his first WHL playoff game,

“It’s been three years running now, as in my first year we were one point out in the last game (vs Spokane) and we lost, so it’s definitely a big motivation and I’m really excited.”

Zemlak was asked if the club was motivated to move up higher in the standings, to avoid Prince George or Portland, and who’s travel would be considerably greater than going to Everett.

“Whomever we play is going to be a tough match up, all those top teams are pretty good. I think we can give them a run for their money and we can surprise them. ”

Overage forward Dawson Pasternak has yet to dress in a WHL post season game, and was also surprised that they still don’t know whom they’ll face in round one.

“It’s definitely a little weird, but it’s nice that we’re in the playoffs in the first place. And right now, our focus is just to finish this year strong.

“We’re going treat these next two games like playoff games. We have to ramp it up and find that next gear in our game to really help us move forward, so that we when we do figure out who our opponent is we can feel like we are already used to it as this team hasn’t been in the playoffs in a long time.”

Pasternak has playoff experience, but it’s been a while since his USHL Chicago Steel won the Clark Cup in 2021 with players like Adam Fantilli, and Josh Doan.

“They’re both obviously good teams but no matter who we play, everyone’s good at this point in the year, everyone’s pushing their hardest.

“So opponents wise, I don’t think it’s going to matter really who we’re going to be playing, it’s going to matter on us, how hard we’re working and what we can do on the ice because we have a team that can really surprise any opponent as long as we really stick to our systems hard, and we play the right way and work hard every day.”

The Wild are Patrick’s former Ice squad from last year, but only 9 players remain from his team and was asked if there was any extra feeling anticipated for the game.

“No, no, we’ve played them already. I’ve seen them so many times in pre-scouts and watching other teams. I feel like they got a lot of guys who are new, who I don’t know. They have a whole different coaching staff and they’ve played real well this year under the circumstances losing three elite players.

“They’re coached real well, and the young players have stepped up and filled some voids for them.”

Victoria dropped their previous meetings, all held in Wenatchee by scores of 6-3, and most recently 3-2 on December 28^th.

“We have to play better than we did last weekend in a lot of areas. Playoff type of hockey, feel a little pressure. Defending like your life depended on it. We need more of that to get ready for the playoffs.”

It will be the Wenatchee’s first ever visit to the Island branded as the Wild. Puck drop Wednesday and Friday at 7pm.

by Marlon Martens

Playoffs Begin Now For Royals

“This is the start of the playoffs for us, it really is.” – HC James Patrick

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