WHL Victoria Royals

Royals Set for Tests against Blades, Thunderbirds

Published on February 16, 2023 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Victoria Royals News Release


Victoria Royals right wing Riley Gannon
Victoria Royals right wing Riley Gannon
(Victoria Royals)

Victoria, B.C. - The Victoria Royals are set for a busy weekend with a home game scheduled against the Saskatoon Blades on Friday before playing the first of three consecutive contests against the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, WA on Saturday.

Victoria (15-32-4-1) is coming off a convincing 6-2 win over the Vancouver Giants in the back-half of a home-and-home series played last Friday and Saturday night.

They will look to maintain the momentum against two tough opponents this weekend in Saskatoon (35-13-3-1) and Seattle (39-9-1-1), who both rank inside the top 10 teams in the WHL.

Royals Assistant Coach Morgan Klimchuk sees the games as a great chance for the team to prove themselves against high-quality opponents:

"It's going to require our best against those teams," said Klimchuk after practice Wednesday. "As coaches and players we absolutely love that challenge, and you want to be your best every night. There's no real room for error with teams of that calibre and I think our group has known that throughout the week and our practices have dictated that factor."

Forward Robin Sapousek has made a noticeable impact on the ice for the Royals in recent weeks and played an instrumental part in last Saturday's victory over the Giants, recording a pair of assists and posing a scoring threat every time he left the bench.

Since arriving to the team in early January, the Karlovy Vary, Czechia native has recorded seven points on three goals and four assists in 14 games played.

Goaltender Braden Holt also continues to be of vital importance to the club, holding opponents to two goals or less in back-to-back appearances and has been in net for every Royals win since the start of the new year.

Simply put, the Bozeman, MT product has been an absolute workhorse between the posts this season, leading the league in games played (44), minutes played (2,550), shots faced (1,403) and saves made (1,255) while posting a 8-5-2-1 record with a 3.54 goals against average (GAA) and a .899 save percentage (SV%) over 14 appearances for Victoria.

With the Royals scheduled to play four games in the next five days, it is likely we could see backup Nicholas Cristiano make an appearance. The Langley, BC native has earned a 4-11-0-0 record with a 4.15 GAA and a .860 SV% in 20 games this season.

Victoria's first test this weekend will come Friday night against the Saskatoon Blades, who have enjoyed a successful 2022-2023 season to this point, currently occupying third place in the Eastern Conference.

Blades forward Egor Sidorov has played a large part in that success this year, recording a team-high 31 goals to go along with 27 assists for 58 total points in 41 games this season.

The Vitebsk, Belarus native will enter the weekend looking to extend a 10-game scoring streak that has seen him record 13 total points on six goals and seven assists.

Saskatoon also benefits from the services of one of the best goaltenders in the WHL in the 18-year-old Austin Elliott. Along with a 19-5-2-0 record, two shutouts and a .918 SV%, the Strathmore, AB product has posted a league-best 2.01 GAA over 28 total appearances this season.

Backup Ethan Chadwick has also been solid all season, earning a 16-8-1-1 record with a 2.59 GAA and a .901 SV% in 26 games played, while matching his teammate with two shutouts on the year.

Following their contest with the Blades, the Royals will hit the road for the first of three consecutive contests against the first-place Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday.

Victoria and Seattle have met just once this season, a matchup which ended in a 3-0 victory for the Thunderbirds in mid-December.

Seattle is a team filled with a jaw-dropping amount of talent up-and-down the lineup, featuring five first round NHL draft picks in forwards Dylan Guenther, Reid Schaefer, and Brad Lambert, as well as defencemen Kevin Korchinski and Nolan Allan.

Furthermore, their lineup also contains second-round pick Colton Dach, third-round picks Luke Prokop and Jordan Gustafson, fifth-rounder Jared Davidson and sixth-round pick Lucas Ciona, as well as having two skaters ranked inside the top-100 for this year's draft.

If that wasn't already impressive enough, the pairing of 17-year-old Scott Ratzlaff and 19-year-old Thomas Millic also gives Seattle one of the best goaltending duos in the league.

Both netminders have put up near-identical stats this season, with Milic earning a 19-3-1-0 record with two shutouts, a .920 SV% and a 2.25 GAA in 24 games, and Ratzlaff with a 18-6-0-1 record, a .919 SV%, a 2.20 GAA and a league-high four shutouts over 25 appearances.

The Royals will be holding their annual Indigenous Cultural Celebration Night, presented by REMAX, when they host the Blades on Friday night at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

The celebration will include presentations by representatives of the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations as well as an Indigenous vendor fair on the concourse at gate one.

Furthermore, the team has pledged to donate all proceeds from Friday's 50/50 to the Moose Hide Campaign, the main beneficiary of the night's celebration, which works to end violence towards women and children across Canada.

The first game of the weekend is set to begin at 7:05 pm on Friday, Feb. 17 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Tickets are available at selectyourtickets.com.

Game number two will take place at 6:05 pm on Saturday, Feb. 18 at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, WA.

Players to watch:

Victoria:

#29 Teague Patton (F) - 53 GP, 38 PTS (12 G, 26 A)

#28 Riley Gannon (F) - 53 GP, 31 PTS (15 G, 16 A)

#8 Kalem Parker (D) - 53 GP, 30 PTS (6 G, 24 A)

Saskatoon:

#38 Trevor Wong (F) - 52 GP, 64 PTS (18 G, 46 A)

#8 Brandon Lisowsky (F) - 44 GP, 51 PTS (27 G, 24 A)

Seattle:

#29 Jared Davidson (F) - 46 GP, 68 PTS (29 G, 39 A)

#71 Dylan Guenther (F) - 3 GP, 4 PTS (1 G, 3 A)

Follow the Royals on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, TikTok and visit victoriaroyals.com to find out more about ticket sales and to learn the latest news about the team.

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Multiple ticket packages are available for purchase, including a Family Pack, Group Pack, VictoriaNow Family Section, Vizzy Section and Molson Ice Seats. Call our ticket office at 250-220-7889, send an email to tickets@victoriaroyals.com or visit our website to learn more victoriaroyals.com/ticket-promos.

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Victoria Royals right wing Riley Gannon
Victoria Royals right wing Riley Gannon
   



Western Hockey League Stories from February 16, 2023


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