Royals Rebound
The Royals are taking on the Spokane Chiefs for round two of the WHL playoffs. Victoria lost the season series, going 1-2-0-1 against Spokane in the regular season with one win in overtime.
The Royals played a dominant first playoff round, taking a 4-1 series victory over the Tri-City Americans, and look ready for a bigger challenge. Here’s what to expect in this explosive second round showdown:
Special Teams
Special teams are a crucial component of any playoff series, especially if your opponent operated the league’s best power play in the regular season. As the owner of the worst regular season penalty kill of any playoff team, the Royals will need to take into account the Chiefs’ exceptional ability to punish penalties.
However, Victoria is second in the WHL for both power play and penalty kill success thus far in the postseason.
No matter what the stats say, it will be critical for the Royals to keep their wits about them and spend as little time in the box as possible in order to shut down Spokane’s top forwards, including the two leaders in goals in the regular season, Shea Van Olm and Andrew Cristall.
Goaltending and Defence
A cornerstone of the Royals’ first round success was goaltender Johnny Hicks. In the first round, Hicks led the league in save percentage with a .949, as well as shutouts, holding Tri-City scoreless twice in those five games. For the Royals to succeed against Spokane, Hicks, along with goaltending partner Jayden Kraus, will need to bring their A-game.
Victoria’s goaltending will require a solid resistance on the blueline. With two of the WHL’s top five playoff scorers wearing a Chiefs jersey, the Royals defensive core has their work cut out for them. Luckily, Victoria has had no shortage of strong defence this season. With key contributions from Justin Kipkie, Rookie of the Year finalist Keaton Verhoeff, and Jerrett Ross, who scored his first WHL goal in game 5 of the first round, the Royals defensive ranks will be critical to stop the Chiefs in their tracks.
Offence on a Roll
The Royals’ offence has been buzzing lately in all facets, with contributions from just about every forward. The usual suspects were in great form in round one, namely Cole Reschny (4G, 8A), Teydon Trembecky (2G, 6A), Kenta Isogai (3G, 4A), and Brandon Lisowsky (4G, 2A).
There have been several other notable producers however, such as Markus Loponen finding the back of the net twice in the Royals’ only loss of round one, and Wyatt Danyleyko opening the scoring in game five.
With the Royals doing a great job of scoring by committee and putting up a high shot volume against their previous opponent, Victoria has all the tools they need to overpower the Chiefs and hopefully make it past the second round for the first time in franchise history.
The Royals will begin this rumble with their rivals in back-to-back away games on April 13 and 14, before returning home on Wednesday, April 16. Buckle up and prepare for an explosive series with plenty of red lights and some of the best talent in the Western Hockey League on display!
