SERIES PREVIEW: Victoria Royals (7) vs. Portland Winterhawks (2)

For just the second time in WHL history, Portland (2) and Victoria (7) will meet in a Pacific Northwest postseason battle.

With a 48-15-4-1 record, the Winterhawks have posted their winningest regular season since 2014 and have three consecutive seasons with 40 wins or more.

It’s difficult to find a weak link in the U.S. Division Champion’s armour.

The Winterhawks boast eight 20-plus goal-scorers, headlined by 50-goal scorer James Stefan, who is fresh off of signing an entry-level deal with the Edmonton Oilers.

Portland leads the league with 330 goals (only two teams managed to crack 300) and has allowed the third-fewest goals with 204.

Victoria got a big boost after adding former WHL Coach of the Year James Patrick in November and trading for defenceman Jaren Brinson and overage forward Tyson Laventure.

The Hawks made a splash by acquiring defenceman Tyson Jugnauth from the Wisconsin Badgers in December and centreman Nate Danielson at the trade deadline. The Detroit Red Wings draft pick is one of seven NHL prospects on the Portland roster, joining Stefan (EDM), Josh Davies (FLA), Marek Alscher (FLA), Tyson Jugnauth (SEA), Carter Sotheran (PHI) and Luca Cagnoni (SJ).

This marks the Royals’ first playoff run since 2019 and just the second time Victoria and Portland have clashed in playoffs.

Portland previously defeated Victoria in five games en route to a trip to the WHL Final in 2014.

The Winterhawks swept the regular season series against the Royals 4-0-0-0, though one of the wins required overtime and another needed a shootout.

Game One of the first-round matchup is scheduled for Friday, March 29 in Portland at 7:00 p.m. PST.

STAT PACK

	Portland Winterhawks	Victoria Royals
Record	48-15-4-1	29-30-5-4
Leading Scorers	Gabe Klassen (35G, 71A, 106PTS) James Stefan (50G, 51A, 101PTS) Luca Cagnoni (18G, 72A, 90PTS)	Dawson Pasternak (27G, 45A, 72PTS) Tyson Laventure (31G, 36A, 67PTS) Cole Reschny (21G, 38A, 59PTS)
Leading Goaltender	Jan Spunar (25-6-2-1)	Braden Holt (21-17-4-3, 3.57, .894)
Powerplay	26.9% (4th)	20.9% (13th)
Penalty Kill	78.7% (6th)	75.9% (13th)
2023 WHL Playoffs	Lost Second Round (Kamloops)	Did Not Qualify
Last WHL Championship	2013	–

 

Regular Season Series: Portland wins 4-0-0-0
November 22, 2023- Victoria 3, Portland 4 (SO)
February 23, 2024- Portland 6, Victoria 2
February 24, 2024- Portland 5, Victoria 2
March 2, 2024- Victoria 4, Portland 5 (OT)

GAME BREAKERS

Portland Winterhawks: Luca Cagnoni’s incredible season is one for the history books. With 18 goals and 72 assists in 65 games, the San Jose Sharks draft pick became the first WHL defenseman in 30 years to record 90-plus points in a season. He finished third in points among all CHL defencemen and led all WHL blueliners with a +47 rating, while his 18 goals were good for third. The Burnaby, B.C. product had 10 games where he netted three points or more and tallied three assists against the Royals in the regular season. He has two goals and eight assists in 20 career postseason games.

Victoria Royals: Dawson Pasternak has been the go-to guy for Victoria from start to finish. In his first season with the Royals, the team alternate captain led the squad with 72 points and 45 assists and sat second with 31 goals. 22 of those assists came on Victoria’s fourth-ranked powerplay and he’s tied with Justin Kipkie for the team lead with four game-winning goals. The Winnipeg, Man. product was selected by the Winterhawks in the 2018 WHL Prospects Draft and suited up for 62 games over two seasons in addition to 10 playoff games before being traded to Brandon in 2022-23. Can he exact some revenge against his former team?

GOALTENDING

Portland Winterhawks: A brilliant start to the season for Jan Spunar was cut short by an unfortunate lower-body injury in November. The 6-foot-3 Czech netminder would return after nine weeks to close out the season with a 12-3-2-0 record, a 2.51 goals-against average, a .890 save percentage and one shutout in his final 15 games. Spunar, who attended Montreal Canadiens camp in the fall, was named Giuseppe WHL Goaltender of the Week in early October after going 5-0-0-0 to start the season. The 19-year-old rookie is 3-0-0-0 against Victoria with a 2.66 goals-against average and a .860 save percentage.

Victoria Royals: Braden Holt has been solid in net for Victoria, surpassing 20 wins for a third-straight season. He sports a 21-17-4-3 record with Victoria, which slid down the standings in the home stretch, but also showed they could be dominant during portions of the season. Holt earned points in nine straight appearances (6-0-2-1) to help Victoria climb to second in the B.C. Division in December. Holt went 0-1-1-1 against Portland, including one loss where he made a season-high 47 saves.

X FACTOR

Portland Winterhawks: The Nate Danielson trade was the talk of WHL Trade Deadline Day as the centreman moved from Brandon to Portland. The Detroit Red Wings prospect has put up 24 goals and 43 assists for 67 points and a +26 rating this season (12 goals and 29 assists came in his 28 games with the Winterhawks). Danielson enters playoffs on a five-game point streak that’s seen him add three goals and nine assists. He’s scored a pair of goals and assists against Victoria this season.

Victoria Royals: Tyson Laventure leads Victoria with 16 goals since being picked up in a trade with Swift Current on January 10. The 20-year-old netted three goals and three assists in four games against Lethbridge this season, including one game where he netted an assist as a member of the Broncos. The 6-foot-3, 201-pound winger leads the Royals with 11 powerplay goals and has opened the scoring a whopping 10 times this season (only Moose Jaw’s Jagger Firkus and Saskatoon’s Egor Sidorov have scored more game-opening goals).

SERIES SCHEDULE