The monarchical marriage punchlines pretty much write themselves whenever Victoria meets Prince Albert in the Western Hockey League. Let’s just say the Prince Albert Raiders were not amused as the Victoria Royals rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 6-4 on Friday night before 3,857 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Royals starting goaltender Jayden Kraus is from Prince Albert. Perhaps it was nerves against his hometown team, but Kraus allowed four goals on Prince Albert’s first eight shots. Spencer Michnik started the second period in goal for Victoria and blanked the Raiders the rest of the way with 17 saves.
Raiders starter Cooper Anderson, a former Victoria Cougars and Peninsula Panthers VIJHL goaltender from Sidney, faced 36 shots in a busy night against his hometown club, as the South Island Royals graduate took the loss.
Victoria had the first six shots on goal to start the game, half of them prime scoring chances, but Prince Albert scored on its first two shots by Tomas Mrsic on the power play and Seattle Kraken NHL second-round draft pick Lukas Dragicevic to jump into the 2-0 lead by mid-point of the opening period. Finnish-import Markus Loponen, a Winnipeg Jets NHL draft-pick, pulled the Royals to within one but the Raiders responded with two more goals. Dragicevic was in on three of the four first-period goals for Prince Albert.
The Royals were relentless in reply and forged ahead on goals by 20-year-old forward Vaughn Watterodt, on a three-point night in his 200th career WHL game, Teydon Trembecky and two from the ever-hustling Escalus Burlock to pull ahead 5-4 before 2025 NHL first-round draft-projected Cole Reschny scored into an empty net. It continued a trend in which Victoria (6-1-2) starts slowly in games and then rallies.
“It’s unreal. We are a mature team that can battle back from anything and I am really proud of this group,” said Watterodt, in addressing the happy crowd following the game.
The Raiders fell to 2-6-2 in the Eastern Conference.
The Royals embark on a four-game road swing through Kamloops and Kelowna on Tuesday and Wednesday and Prince George next Friday and Saturday before returning to the Memorial Centre in a four-set against the defending WHL-champion Moose Jaw Warriors on Nov. 1, Saskatoon Blades on Nov. 3 and Kamloops on Nov. 5-6.
