Wenatchee Starts Strong Saturday, but Royals Recover for 3-1 Win
VICTORIA, British Columbia – There wasn’t a long list of criticisms to level against the Wenatchee Wild after a 6-1 win over the Victoria Royals Friday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. Saturday’s game looked to be shaping up the same way early, but the Royals snatched a 3-1 victory to close out Wenatchee’s weekend. The Wild and Royals evenly split the four-game season series, though Wenatchee would win the 2025-26 series on points thanks to an overtime loss in October.
Cal Conway made several highlight-reel saves as part of a 32-save performance, but Mason Kraft saw a six-game point streak silenced and Luka Shcherbyna saw a stretch of points in five straight appearances halted. Wenatchee dropped to 22-30-3-2 on the season, while Victoria leapt up to take the eighth-place spot in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference standings with a 24-23-5-3 mark.
Off a turnover in the Victoria end, Aiden Grossklaus found Mathias Silaban for a quick snap off the left shoulder of Ethan Eskit, giving the Wild the lead just 4:10 into the contest. However, the Royals wiped away the lead less than three minutes into the second period on a left-wing snap from Cruz Waltze. Heath Nelson came out of the penalty box at just the right time for the Royals, turning an even-strength opportunity into a stretch pass for Timofei Runtso and a second-chance goal for Nelson with 7:01 to play in the period.
Wenatchee’s attempts to erase the lead came up shy in the third – with 1:25 to play and the Wild net empty, Hayden Moore’s toss down ice banked off the corner boards and bounded into the faceoff circle for Roan Woodward to pitch into the cage to seal the Victoria victory.
Ethan Eskit earned his 20th victory of the season, turning away 21 of Wenatchee’s 22 shots. The Royals ended the night with a 3-for-4 mark on the special teams, killing both Wild power plays. With Victoria’s win, the Wild come out of the weekend seven points back of the final Western Conference playoff spot, with just 11 games remaining on their regular-season schedule.
The Wild finish off a three-game road stretch on Friday with a visit to Prospera Place and a showdown with the Kelowna Rockets. The opening puck drop is set for 6:05 p.m. with live coverage 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 1 0 0 – 1
Victoria 0 2 1 – 3
1st Period-1, Wenatchee, Silaban 9 (Grossklaus), 4:10. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period-2, Victoria, Waltze 3 (Runtso), 2:56. 3, Victoria, Nelson 18 (Vauhkonen), 12:59 (PP). Penalties-Nelson Vic (cross checking), 10:50; Han Wen (interference), 12:19.
3rd Period-4, Victoria, Woodward 29 (Moore, Newman), 18:35 (EN). Penalties-Waltze Vic (tripping), 3:08; Caffey Wen (inter. on goaltender), 4:30.
Shots on Goal-Wenatchee 7-8-6-21. Victoria 11-12-12-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Wenatchee 0 / 2; Victoria 1 / 2.
Goalies-Wenatchee, Conway 7-12-1-0 (34 shots-32 saves). Victoria, Eskit 20-17-5-3 (21 shots-20 saves).
A-4,811
Referees-Brad Lebus (52), Mark Pearce (5).
Linesmen-Aidan hitchmough (154), Ryan Sirk (173).
