Credit: Gord Rufh

By Marlon Martens

Victoria Doubled 4-2 By Wenatchee Friday

Hungry Wild Outlast Royals

Mar 23, 2024 | 12:40 AM

Credit: Gord Rufh

The Victoria Royals ran into a hot goaltender, and deserved a better fate Friday night, after being double by the visiting Wenatchee Wild 4-2, who earn a split in the two game set.

“They were really hungry. It was really important for them to get the two points to solidify their playoff spot.” said Head Coach James Patrick.

Wenatchee who bent but didn’t break, secured 4^th place in the West and home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

Credit: Gord Rufh

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Making a difference was defenceman Karter Prosofsky who scored his first career hat trick, and Wild netminder Brendan Gee put in a star worthy performance making 35 saves.

Victoria trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes, the first goal a tip from a point shot, but the second was a flukey rim-in that hit the partition in the glass half way down the boards and caromed into a yawning cage as netminder Braden Holt had vacated the net in anticipation for a puck, behind the goal.

“Off the redirection the second goal was a pretty unfortunate bounce.” said Holt who played his final regular season game of his WHL career,

“I just felt like the pucks weren’t going our way tonight, but I thought the guys really battled in the second and third period. We really came out and put a lot of pucks on their goaltender and he played good – so I have to give credit to him.”

The Royals had come out hard, but the Wild turned the tables mid way through the opening frame.

“I really liked our start, we got pucks to the net and were out-shooting them, and the zone time was in our favour.” praised Patrick,

“They were the hungrier team the last 14 minutes of the first and started taking over the play. They started to win a lot of battles and out skated us the rest of the period. ”

After a scoreless second, both clubs swapped a pair of each in the third, and the Royals ran out of time in their comeback.

Pickford scores. Credit: Gord Rufh

“I liked the work ethic in the last two periods and the guys tried, we got a little more aggressive, and the rest of the way we controlled the possession game or the zone time, but we did not make any plays.” resolved Patrick,

“We flubbed passes, we shot pucks into shin pads, and at the end of the day you have to make plays to capitalize on.”

The Royals controlled the face-off circle in the first period, but the Wild took over the rest of the way, and it factored in the game.

“We gave up two goals off the face off, and got dominated in the circle…that was the difference in the game.” summarized Patrick.

Credit: Gord Rufh

Victoria was unable to capitalize on the majority of power plays, going 1 for 6, while the Royals primarily remained discipline, killing off the Wild’s only man advantage.

Making his Victoria debut was forward Wyatt Danyleyko, 16, from Sooke. The 6^th round selection got a shot on goal in his very first shift, but saw limited minutes as it turned into a three line game.

Danyleyko. Credit: Gord Rufh

Victoria got goals from Logan Pickford and Reggie Newman, while Braden Holt made 21 saves in the defeat.

With the setback and a Spokane loss, Victoria locked up 7^th place in the West and will face the undetermined second seed in the Western Conference in the opening round of the playoffs on the road next Friday and Saturday night.

“We’ll take a day off on the weekend and start preparing on Sunday. So it will be our usual playoff preparation, a lot goes into it and we’ll be getting ready for our opponent.” said Patrick who took Winnipeg to the Conference Final two seasons ago, and lost in the WHL final last year against Seattle.

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