Saab Nets Pair Friday as Wild Cruise to 6-1 Win at Victoria Royals
VICTORIA, British Columbia – The Wenatchee Wild will never claim Friday’s Western Hockey League road game at the Victoria Royals was a perfect game. However, with only one puck getting by Cal Conway and the WHL’s best penalty kill remaining untested at the end of the night, there was plenty to like in a 6-1 Wild victory at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Zane Saab posted a pair of goals and Rui Han racked up three assists Friday, as the five-goal margin matched the WHL franchise’s largest victory ever against Victoria, and the six-goal output matched the club’s largest against the Royals since the franchise came to Wenatchee in 2023.
Aiden Grossklaus set the tone for Wenatchee five minutes in, putting on a burst of speed through neutral ice before slipping a chance past Ethan Eskit for the opening goal. Saab claimed his first goal of the night with 5:55 left in the period, sweeping a rebound chance past Eskit’s left skate to push the margin to two.
The second period went by without a goal, as the Royals racked up seven of the first 10 shots on net before the Wild added six of the final nine. The teams played infraction-free hockey until the 12:42 mark of the second, when Victoria’s Seth Fryer was hit for a roughing call that the Royals would eventually kill off.
The floodgates would open in the third – Luka Shcherbyna pounced on a bounce on the backdoor, punching in a chance at the post 3:30 out of the break for a three-goal margin. Saab jammed in a chance in front off a pass from Darian Rolsing with 13:50 to play, and Grady Wedman finished a 2-on-1 chance with 11:40 to play by wiring a wrister over Eskit’s shoulder to push the lead to 5-0.
Eskit vacated the net in favor of Jake Pilon, and 29 seconds later, Ludovic Perreault hit the top corner of the net past Conway to trim the lead to 5-1. However, Wenatchee got that goal back with 6:54 left on a power play marker at the back post from Caelan Joudrey, tapping one in off a cross-ice pass from Mason Kraft to Levi Benson.
Conway made 31 saves to earn his seventh win of the season, while Eskit was tagged for the Victoria loss, making 22 saves on 27 Wild opportunities. Pilon finished with a no-decision, turning away six of seven Wild shots. Wenatchee finished 1-for-2 on the power play, and both Grossklaus and Joudrey added assists to their markers. Kraft extended his point streak to six straight games, while Shcherbyna posted a point in his fifth straight appearance.
Wenatchee moved to 22-29-3-2 on the season, while Victoria slipped to 23-23-5-3 – the Royals remain tied with eighth-place Tri-City at 54 points, though the Americans hold a tiebreaker on wins, and have one game in hand. The Wild crept to within five points of the Western Conference’s final playoff spot after Tri-City was idle Friday, and the sixth through 11th positions in the Western Conference standings go to Saturday separated by just eight total points.
The Wild and Royals square off Saturday in a rematch to close out their season series, with the opening puck drop at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria set for 6:05 p.m. – live coverage is available on Newsradio 560 KPQ and Victory+. Wenatchee returns to home ice Saturday, February 28 for its annual Hockey Fights Cancer game, presented by Confluence Health.
Tickets for that game and all remaining regular-season Wild home games, as well as 2026-27 season tickets, are on sale now by phone at 509-888-7825, or by visiting the team office at Town Toyota Center. Updated news and information on Wild hockey are always available through the team’s website and on the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
Wenatchee 2 0 4 – 6
Victoria 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period-1, Wenatchee, Grossklaus 12 4:59. 2, Wenatchee, Zane Saab 7 (Han, Vaillant), 14:05. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Fryer Vic (roughing), 12:42.
3rd Period-3, Wenatchee, Shcherbyna 21 (Joudrey, Han), 3:30. 4, Wenatchee, Zane Saab 8 (Rolsing, Han), 6:10. 5, Wenatchee, Wedman 8 (Silaban, Grossklaus), 8:20. 6, Victoria, Perreault 17 (Silver), 8:49. 7, Wenatchee, Joudrey 15 (Benson, Kraft), 13:06 (PP). Penalties-Caffey Wen (tripping), 12:41; Moore Vic (roughing, roughing), 12:41.
Shots on Goal-Wenatchee 13-9-12-34. Victoria 7-10-15-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Wenatchee 1 / 2; Victoria 0 / 0.
Goalies-Wenatchee, Conway 7-11-1-0 (32 shots-31 saves). Victoria, Eskit 19-17-5-3 (27 shots-22 saves); Pilon 3-6-0-0 (7 shots-6 saves).
A-3,713
Referees-Jarrod Lucoe (43), Trevor Nolan (17).
Linesmen-Jack McNabb (144), Nathan Van Oosten (115).
