The Victoria Royals will compete for the WHL crown.
The WHL’s most Westerly squad locked in a playoff berth by nature of a Kamloops Blazers regulation loss on Monday, February 17.
Victoria is currently on the ice in a showdown against the league-leading Everett Silvertips.
The Royals (32-14-3-6) are on pace for the team’s most successful season in several years.
Victoria has points in seven straight games (6-0-0-1) to solidify their grasp on the B.C. Division lead and sit second in the Western Conference.
A balanced scoring attack and key trade deadline moves have helped the Islanders put together one of the strongest offensive seasons in the West.
Top 2025 NHL Draft prospect Cole Reschny leads the team in scoring with 76 points (22G-54A entering Monday’s action) and is coming off a recent Tempo WHL Player of the Week win.
The Trade Deadline saw Royals brass bring in sniper Brandon Lisowsky, who is in the midst of a fourth-straight 30-plus goal season and former Wenatchee Wild star Kenta Isogai, who recently recorded his 150th WHL point in just over 100 games.
Veteran Teydon Trembecky is also enjoying a breakout season with his first 30-plus goal season while leading the team with five game-winning goals.
Victoria has also established itself as one of the stingiest teams in the West with just over three goals-against per game.
Captain and Utah Hockey Club Justin Kipkie and San Jose Sharks pick Nate Misskey are key anchors of the Royal’s blue line, while Keaton Verhoeff has emerged as one of the most brilliant rookies of the WHL season.
The 6-foot-4, 212-pound 16-year-old sits second in goals scored by a rookie defenceman (15) and is closing in on a team record for single-season goals by a blueliner.
Between the pipes, Jayden Kraus has been rock-solid with a 22-7-3-5 record, a 2.71 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage and one shutout.
Kraus, who is ranked 11th among North American goaltenders heading into the 2025 NHL Draft, enters Monday sitting second in save percentage among all qualified netminders, third in goals-against average and fifth in wins.
This marks the second consecutive season that Victoria has qualified for the postseason after four seasons without playoffs (the 2020 and 2021 postseasons were canceled as a result of COVID-19).
The Royals now look to confirm home-ice advantage in Round One and capture their second B.C. Division title in franchise history.
Victoria was the crown jewel of the division and won their first Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s regular season champion in 2015-16 when they went 50-16-3-3 and eventually bowed out in the Western Conference Semifinal in seven games against the Kelowna Rockets.
The Royals’ quest for their first WHL Championship begins this spring after the regular season concludes on March 23, 2025.
