The Victoria Royals have turned in a royal performance, capping an outstanding regular season by winning three titles in one night.
On Wednesday night, the Royals downed the Kelowna Rockets 7-4 in Kelowna to capture the B.C. Division, Western Conference and Western Hockey League regular-season titles.
It鈥檚 the first time since the 1980-81 season that Victoria has won the Scotty Munro Trophy as regular-season WHL champions. And it鈥檚 particularly sweet for a young team that had to work hard to achieve so much.
They benefited greatly from an experienced hand on the helm. Coach Dave Lowry took the Scotty Munro Trophy in 2008-09 when he was leading the Calgary Hitmen. Last year, he was assistant coach for Canada鈥檚 gold-medal-winning team at the World Junior Championships.
A generation ago, the Victoria Cougars who won in 1980-81 included future NHLers Geoff Courtnall and Grant Fuhr. Those are big shoes to fill, but the Royals proved they have championship spirit as they tied the franchise record of 48 wins. And they have two games left to play.
Lowry summed up the Royals鈥� regular season well: 鈥淭hey had a goal they wanted to achieve and they worked hard for it and got it done. They did a great job. This is a team in every sense of the word.鈥�
And in every sense of the word, the team has done the city proud.
The Royals can head into the post-season confident in their ability to win, and confident that their fans are solidly behind them.
