Last season the Rebels defeated the Royals 6-2 at the Peavey Mart Centrium on October 26, 2022. It had been 1,365 days since the Rebels had paid a visit to the B.C. Capital. The Rebels have not won a game though at the Save On Foods Arena since 2017. Back then that season Arshdeep Bains was a 16 year old rookie and the team had Brandon Hagel. Also back then the Kootenay Ice were in the League. Thats a long time ago and it could be not until 2025 now or even 2026 before the Rebels will get a win in Vancouver Island.
Even for the avid hockey fan most can not name a pro player that has came out of the Victoria Royals organization. I can only think of Matthew Phillips off the top of my head and the main reason only there probably is because he was a Flame. Lots of washed up 20 year old AJHLers with the WHL logo next to their name on game sheets all tend to have at least a little stint with the Victoria Royals. The Royals Alumni list has to be the worst in all of Major Junior Hockey and I would be shocked if any other team had less. Their 2 highest ever NHL draft pick were 6’7 Keegan Kanzig who went in the 3rd round 67th overall to the Calgary Flames. He barely played in the AHL and struggled in the ECHL. Then Scott Walford a defenceman who went in the 3rd round 68th overall to the Montreal Canadiens in 2017. As of 2023 he has yet to play a game of pro hockey.
Norwegian Import Casper Haugen Evensen scores for the Royals 1st to make it a 1-0 game the assists from Kamloops native Reggie Newman and goalie Braden Holt 1:30 into the game.-It didn’t take long for Victoria to get the home crowd going as Caper Haugen showcased his speed and patience with the puck as he made his way through Rebels defense before slotting one over the shoulder of Wutzke.
Former Brandon Wheat King Teydon Trembecky scored his 6th goal of the season and made it 2-0 at 18:08 of the first period with the assists going to 20 year old Saskatoon native Matthew Hodson and Taber, Alberta native Deegan Kinniburugh. The name Teydon Trembecky made me think it was an import but he is actually from Strathcona.
Casper Haugen Evason scores his 2nd goal of the game to give the Royals a 3-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the first period. Former Chicago Steel forward Dawson Pasternak picked up the helper on that goal.
Shots on goal in the first period 11-8 for the Rebels. Chase Wutzke left the game at this point and was replaced in goal for Red Deer by Rhett Stoesser.
Second period shots 10-6 for the Rebels.
Kai Uchacz put the Rebels on the board at 14:43 of the third period with the assists going to Samuel Drancak and Mats Lindgren.–Red Deer Captain Kai Uchacz capitalized on the power play, scoring his 11th goal this season on Royals netminder Braden Holt. Assisted by Samuel Drancak and Mats Lindgren at 14:43, the Rebels were finally on the scoreboard, behind 3-1.
Jhett Larson scored for the Rebels under 2 minutes later from Kai Uchacz but it wasn’t enough and the Rebels went on to lose the game 3-2.
Shots in the third period were 19-7 for the Rebels. The Rebels ended up nearly doubling the Royals in shots outshooting the Royals 40-21.
Braden Holt made 38 stops on the 40 shots that he faced for the win. While Chase Wutzke stopped 5 of the 8 shots he faced while Rhett Stoesser stopped all 13 shots he faced. Braden Holt hails from Bozeman, Montana not exactly a hockey hot bed. Although I remember back in the late 90s early 2000’s they had a Junior A team in the AWFHL that got really great attendance and played in a beautiful arena. Later on that arena was turned into a beer warehouse or something.🤪
Three Stars of the game 1) Casper Haugen Evensen 2) Braden Holt 3) Kai Uchacz.
Attendance in Victoria at Save On Food Centre was 2,820
Rebels next game is Wednesday night in Langley against the Vancouver Giants. They then head up to Prince George to play the Cougars on Friday.
It may of been more fitting to put this when they played the Cougars but when ever I think of Victoria and the WHL this always comes into my mind.
One of the craziest trades in sports history, as the Seattle Breakers of the Western Hockey League trade the rights to left wing Tom Martin to the Victoria Cougars — for a used bus. Seattle’s bus had blown an engine eight days before, and Martin, a Victoria native, had refused to play for Seattle. So the Breakers got the bus, and the Cougars got $35,000 and the rights to Martin, who would forever be known around the WHL as “Bussey.”
Recently traded Rebels goalie Kyle Kelsey had the WHL save of the night in a 4-3 Americans win over the Kelowna Rockets last night.
From 1994-2011 there was no WHL hockey in Victoria. From what I understand a big reason the Chilliwack Bruins franchise moved to Victoria was to halt the AHL from moving there. I don’t know the truth on that again a rumor I heard. The Nanaimo Islanders played 1 season in the WHL from 1982-83. I wonder if the WHL would ever return to Nanaimo via relocation I hope not expansion.