The Victoria Royals take their game on the road this weekend to Portland to face the Winterhawks.
Both clubs are playoff-bound and in the final stretch to the first round. Portland clinched their spot early as one of the top teams in the Western Conference, currently sporting a record of 43-11-3-4. The Royals, one of this year’s surprises of the BC Division, have a record of 31-23-5-2 and are battling for home-ice advantage in round one.
Portland and Victoria have met twice this season, a pair of thrilling overtime games in Victoria. Victoria took the first game with a score of 2-1, while Portland took the second by a 6-5 final.
“We’re looking forward to these games,” said Royals’ Head Coach Dan Price. “Portland is a really fast team. They like to play with a lot of tempo, just like we do. They’ve got a defensive corps that’s very active on the rush, very active in zone.”
“So, we want to be aggressive and physical,” said Price on his planning. ” We want to make sure we’re defending not just tenaciously, but intelligently. I think if we do a good job of controlling the ice, hopefully, it will give us the puck more and then we can get going on our attack as well.”
In preparation this week, Price saw some similarities in the Winterhawks and last weekend’s opponent the Vancouver Giants.
“It’s very similar as far as their neutral-zone transition and regroup, how they try to attack on the rush,” said Price. “It’s a really good link between the style of play Vancouver plays and the style that Portland does as far as having a similar week of preparation this week.”
“Portland is a little bit further down the spectrum as far as trying to carry it in a little bit more,” said Price.
The Winterhawks play a puck-possession style opposed to a dump and chase tactic. Victoria feels they can adjust to match that style.
“It really means [for us] to be five guys connected all over the ice, which is something you hear a lot in the NHL.”
“If you lose that connection, start losing your forwards up ice and your defenseman are forced to defend the rush all by themselves, that can make it difficult because it gives the other team more chances to enter. But if you’re five connected all over the ice, then it gives your best possible chance to transition.”
Puck drop for Saturday in Portland is at 6:00pm and you can catch the game on WHL Live or listen in to Marlon Martens with the call. DUBNetwork’s own Josh Critzer will have the game covered and recapped as well.
