Royals travel south of the border for contests against Chiefs, Americans
Victoria started off the new year with a 4-2 win over Kelowna on Tuesday
The Victoria Royals will look to remain undefeated in 2023 as they head to the United States for a pair of matchups against the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans this weekend.
Victoria (9-24-3-1) is riding high after ringing in 2023 with a 4-2 victory over the Kelowna Rockets earlier this week, marking their fourth win in their past six games.
Goaltender Braden Holt – who was acquired from the Everett Silvertips at the end of December – has been a large part of the team’s recent success, allowing opponents just five goals against amassing a 2-0-0-1 record over his first three starts with the club.
In total, his season record stands at 15-13-1-1 with a 3.37 goals against average (GAA) and a .898 save percentage (SV%) in 31 appearances between Everett and Victoria. The Bozeman, MT is expected to resume his starting role in net against Spokane and Tri-City this weekend.
The Royals lineup is set to get another boost soon as 2022 CHL Import Draft selection Robin Sapousek is expected to join the club on the road this weekend. The 18-year-old is currently taking part in the World Junior Championships as a member of Team Czechia and will be on the ice as the Czechs face off against Team Canada in the gold medal game on Thursday.
Victoria and Spokane (7-24-1-2) will face off for the third time of the season on Friday night. The Chiefs took the first two meetings, winning 7-5 and 5-4 as the teams opened their season back in late September.
Forward Chase Bertholet has been the main driver of the Chiefs’ offence this season, recording 39 points (14 goals, 25 assists) in 39 games this year and has recorded eight points on three goals and five assists over his last six games coming into the weekend.
17-year-old Cooper Michaluk has played the majority of time in net for Spokane this season, earning a record of 4-10-0-2 with a 4.79 GAA and a .861 SV% in 18 appearances.
Following their game in Spokane, the Royals will travel further south to visit the Americans in Kennewick, WA on Saturday night.
Victoria has won both matchups against Tri-City (16-16-1-1) this year, sweeping a weekend series 7-6 and 6-5 on the Island in mid-December.
However, the Americans were without star goaltender Tomas Suchanek for both those previous meetings and may welcome him back from the Czechia World Junior team this weekend.
It remains to be seen if Tri-City will choose to start Suchanek, who has shouldered a heavy load at this year’s World Juniors and may have earned a day off after backstopping the Czechs to a gold medal game appearance against Canada.
In his absence, the Americans will look to 2003-born goaltender Jared Picklyk or the 2004-born Nick Avakyan, who shared time in net during their previous matchups against Victoria this season.
The Royals first game of the weekend is set to get underway at 7:05 pm on Friday, Jan. 6 at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane WA.
The team will then face off against Tri-City at 6:05 pm the following night, Saturday, Jan. 7, at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, WA.
Players to watch:
Victoria:
#34 Jake Poole (F) – 35 GP, 37 PTS (21 G, 16 A)
#29 Teague Patton (F) – 37 GP, 23 PTS (8 G, 15 A)
#6 Gannon Laroque (D) – 1 GP, 2 PTS (2 A)
Spokane:
#11 Ty Cheveldayoff (F) – 34 GP, 29 PTS (13 G, 16 A)
#29 Tomasso De Luca (F) – 32 GP, 28 PTS (12 G, 16 A)
Tri-City:
#2 Lukas Dragicevic (D) – 34 GP, 44 PTS (9 G, 35 A)
#39 Ethan Ernst (F) – 33 GP, 40 PTS (18 G, 22 A)
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About the Victoria Royals
The Victoria Royals are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) owned and operated by GSL Group. The Royals play all their home games at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre and have entered their 12th season of their existence.
About Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre (SOFMC) is designed, constructed, developed and operated by GSL Group. SOFMC is Victoria’s premier entertainment facility and the largest arena in British Columbia outside Vancouver. The state-of-the-art 7,000 seat facility is home to the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League and regularly hosts large-scale concerts and other special events such as figure skating, curling, plays, trade shows and conferences. SOFMC also features a fine dining Lion’s Den Restaurant, as well as retail and meeting space.
