It’s been a Western Hockey League season of contradictions for the Victoria Royals (8-4-2).
They have rallied to win games but have lost just as many the other way, including blowing 2-0 leads last week in Kamloops and again on Friday night against Moose Jaw as the Warriors scored four unanswered third-period goals in a 4-2 victory at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Royals get a chance to make up for that jolt with a late-matinee game Sunday in the Memorial Centre at 3 p.m. against the Eastern Conference-leading Saskatoon Blades (10-3-1), who are coming off a 7-6 scorefest loss to the Vancouver Giants on Friday.
“It’s been a bit of a mixed bag of everything for us,” said Royals head coach James Patrick, heading into the weekend.
“Our record is good. [But] it’s about learning the system and learning to play the game the right way.
“There have been periods when we haven’t done either of those things as well as we could. For us to be successful we’ve got to compete our tail ends off and play our system the right way. When we do that, I believe we can compete and play with anyone.”
A big test will come Sunday against Saskatoon, a team that is rolling out a confounding tale of its own. The Blades appeared headed for a dip this season after going to the Eastern final the past two seasons but having graduated Toronto Maple Leafs second-round draft-pick Fraser Minten and Anaheim Ducks-signed Egor Sidorov. Saskatoon, however, has surprised the WHL under new head coach Dan DaSilva by leading the Eastern Conference and cracking the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll.
Royals forward Vaughn Watterodt went to two Eastern Conference finals with the Blades — including last spring when regular-season champion Saskatoon lost to Moose Jaw in overtime in Game 7 — before he was traded over the summer to Victoria.
“I’m obviously excited to see some familiar faces and I have a lot of close friends on that [Blades] team after having played there for three seasons,” said Watterodt.
“It’ll be nice to get a few chirps in. I know a couple of guys I’m going to give it to. We’re going to joke around [beforehand] but it will be all business during the game.”
Former Royals forward Ben Riche, sent to the Blades in the trade in which Victoria acquired Watterodt, returns to the Memorial Centre this afternoon on the boil with nine goals and 23 points in 14 games for Saskatoon.
ICE CHIPS: The Royals on Saturday traded forward Deagan McMillan to the Wenatchee Wild for six-foot forward Hayden Moore, who has three goals and seven points for the Wild in 15 games this season. The six-foot-two McMillan turned heads and won rave reviews in the NHL training camp of the Vancouver Canucks but had yet to record a point in eight games with Victoria.
