What: In Western Hockey League play, the Victoria Royals (26-14-3-5) will play the Portland Winterhawks (27-17-2-1).
When: February 1, Saturday, 6 p.m. PST.
Memorial Coliseum is the location.
Watch: The game is available to stream on the CLH TV pay-per-view service, which costs roughly US$7.50 each game.
Listen: Royals and Winterhawks audio.
Do the following:
-
The box score.
-
Get updates and chat before, during, and after the game.
Portland Winterhawks
After losing to the Medicine Hat Tigers 7-2 on Friday, the Portland Winterhawks will need to move quickly to move on. Although Portland performed better than the score suggested, the now-league-favorite Tigers still outscored them.
They now face a squad that is just three points ahead of them in the standings, which makes the challenge a little more realistic. The Prince George Cougars’ victory and Portland’s defeat put Prince George in fourth place, two points ahead of Portland. The BC Division winner will receive the second seed regardless of record, and it’s a bit early for playoff positioning. Additionally, the Western Conference’s second through fifth spots are rather close. It’s an excellent exam, though.
The goal differential at even strength has dropped back to fifth worst in the league after the Winterhawks recently pulled themselves out of a deep deficit.
| Forwards | (Career games – season points/games) |
|---|---|
| 20 | 19-Kyle Chyzowski (292 – 78/47) |
| 19 |
15-Joel Plante (18 – 8/18) 28-Josh Zakreski (223 – 49/45) 39-Tyson Yaremko (112 – 30/35) 88-Alex Weiermair (21 – 22/21) |
| 18 |
17-Carsyn Dyck (50 – 19/47) 29-Hudson Darby (112 – 17/39) 61-Brodie Hankel (26 – 0/26) 90-Diego Buttazzoni (194 – 55/44) |
| 17 |
8-Lochlan Tetarenko (28 – 5/28) 18-Kyle McDonough (103 – 25/40) 23-Ryan Miller (93 – 20/29) 37-David Hoy (32 – 5/32) |
| 16 |
9-Jordan Duguay (47 – 25/47) 72-Reed Brown (45 – 10/45) |
Chyzowski’s eight-game point run came to an end on Friday, but he lost a goal because of some questionable officiating practices. He was -3 as well.
Zakreski has a four-game point streak after scoring two goals on Friday. Despite being restricted to only one shot by the Tigers, Buttazzoni assisted on one of them, giving him a three-game run.
McDonough is back after missing two games.
| Defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 20 |
27-Tyson Jugnauth (104 – 65/45) 43-Ryder Thompson (281 – 17/47) |
| 19 | 59-Carter Sotheran (202 – 25/45) |
| 18 | 12-Cole Slobodian (52 – 2/47) |
| 17 |
7-Kayd Ruedig (47 – 15/45) 77-Max P eni ka (3 – 2/3) |
| 16 | 22-Griffin Darby (40 – 3/40) |
The Tigers slowed Jugnauth down as he touched the puck roughly half as much as he usually does, ending his 10-game point run. The defenseman from Portland had a pretty difficult night overall.
| Goalies | (Career games – season save%/games) |
|---|---|
| 18 | 74-Marek Schlenker (23 – .890/23) |
| 17 |
1-Ondrej t bet k (31 – .887/31) |
K ought to be given the go-ahead. Against the Royals earlier in the season, he stopped 39 of 42 shots. However, his save percentage over the last six games is.843. In his most recent game against the Tri-City Americans, he did stop 37 of 41 shots.
Victoria Royals
Prince George is two points behind the Victoria Royals in the BC division. Currently, the Winterhawks would not face the Tri-City Americans or the Vancouver Giants in the first round of the playoffs if they were to win the division. That seems ideal, at least for now.
At the trade deadline, they acquired Kenta Isogai and Brandon Lisowsky. They are 8-3-0-1 since those acquisitions. The top-ranked Everett Silvertips were the opponent for the first two victories. However, their losses have been mind-boggling, including a loss to Seattle, two terribly blown games against Brandon and Swift Current, and Friday’s 5-1 loss in Spokane. Since then, their victories have come against struggling or lower-ranked clubs. Thus, their form is rather deceptive.
It’s never easy, but they traveled from Spokane for the night and most likely arrived in town between 4 and 6 am.
| Forwards | |
|---|---|
| 20 |
6-Brayden Boehm (200 – 41/46) 8-Brandon Lisowsky (307 – 58/41) 86-Kenta Isogai (109 – 54/40) |
| 19 |
22-Teydon Trembecky (172 – 54/48) 25-Reggie Newman (221 – 26/45) |
| 18 |
19-Hayden Moore (124 – 30/49) 20-Markus Loponen (46 – 33/46) 28-Logan Pickford (110 – 13/48) 34-Escalus Burlock (118 – 10/39) |
| 17 |
7-Cole Reschny (112 – 60/43) 15-Daniel Morozov (2 – 0/0) 16-Wyatt Danyleyko (38 – 7/37) 26-Caleb Matthews (45 – 13/41) |
| 16 | 17-Nolan Stewart (41 – 15/41) |
The homegrown standout, Reschny, is ranked 34th by Central Scouting.Additionally, they have been of great assistance to him with Isogai from Wenatchee and Lisowsky from Saskatoon. After scoring the lone goal against Spokane, he has a three-game point streak; Trembecky has a three-game streak and an assist.
| Defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 19 |
3-Justin Kipkie (190 – 38/44) 12-Cosmo Wilson (197 – 21/47) 23-Nate Misskey (163 – 30/43) |
| 18 |
2-Landon Young (106 – 6/29) 4-Seth Fryer (118 – 11/48) |
| 17 | 14-Jerrett Ross (36 – 0/23) |
| 16 | 18-Keaton Verhoeff (59 – 37/43) |
Three of their defenseman rank among the league’s top 28 scorers.
Gavin McKenna was a major draft prospect for the 2026 NHL draft on Friday; Verhoeff is another one in this game. His stats would be impressive for a 16-year-old forward, let alone a defenseman. In terms of goals scored among defenseman of any age, he is tied for second place in the league.
| Goalies | |
|---|---|
| 19 | 31-Johnny Hicks (4 – .910/4) |
| 18 | 33-Jayden Kraus (63 – .911/35) |
Hicks, who had been ruling the BCHL, was added at the same time as Isogai and Lisowsky. With Kraus, who ranks fourth in the league in save % (depending on your eligibility rules), they didn’t really need him. When it comes time for the playoffs, how will it play out? Last season, Prince George’s strategy of having two elite goalies didn’t really work.
You would anticipate Kraus to win this one since Hicks began in the Spokane loss. In Central Scouting’s goaltender rankings, he is ranked 11th, one spot below 6th-placed T Bet K.
Tale of the tape
| Winterhawks | Royals | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record | 27-17-2-1 (.606) | 26-14-3-5 (.625) | .547 |
| Goals/game | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| Goals allowed/game | 4.1 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| Team shooting % | .114 | .113 | .111 |
| Team save % | .882 | .901 | .889 |
| Power play | 27.1% | 28.6% | 23.4% |
| Penalty kill | 76.2% | 74.9% | 76.6% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Power plays against/game | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.7 |
| Outshooting opponents | 20-25-2 | 27-20-1 | 22-22-2 |
| After 1 period | 14-20-13 | 22-13-13 | 17-17-14 |
| After 2 periods | 18-23-6 | 20-15-13 | 19-19-9 |
| Score, last 10 games | 43-45 (-2) | 50-27 (+23) | 36-36 |
| Score, last 20 games | 87-82 (+5) | 82-55 (+27) | 70-70 |
| Total WHL games | 2179 | 2581 | 2693 |
| WHL drafted top 60 | 6 | 6 | 10 |
| NHL drafted | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| NHL drafted top 80 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Players 6 2 or over | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| Players 5 10 or under | 9 | 6 | 6 |
Live updates and chat
Visit my website to join us. Everyone is welcome.
