It was supposed to be a showdown Friday night in Alberta between two projected NHL first-round draft picks — Cole Reschny of the Victoria Royals for 2025 and Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Tigers for 2026.
This battle decidedly belonged to the gifted McKenna as he scored twice to pace the host Tigers to a 5-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Royals (11-6-3). Reschny did not suit up for Victoria. No explanation was available by press time.
Royals goalkeeper Jayden Kraus made 36 saves on a night when the Tigers (12-9) offence pelted the Royals defence. Victoria could manage only 14 shots on Harrison Meneghin in the Medicine Hat net.
Royals head coach James Patrick described it as a “clear and decisive loss against a very good team.” He decried his team’s discipline, adding: “We took a couple of penalties we had no business taking. We had to play our system squeaky clean and we didn’t to that. They outskated us to pucks we should get to, and they came through our neutral zone very easy. We were standing still when you’ve got to be skating.”
It was the third game of an eight-game road trip for Victoria, the longest of the season, which began with 5-2 and 3-1 wins last weekend over the Seattle Thunderbirds and Kamloops Blazers.
The Royals continue the road swing tonight against the Lethbridge Hurricanes (12-5-1) and 2025 NHL-draft ranked goaltender Koen Cleaver from Port Alberni. That is followed by games in Edmonton against the Oil Kings (8-9-2) on Wednesday, in Calgary against the Hitmen (9-7-4) next Friday and in Red Deer (9-8-3) next Saturday against Rebels captain Ollie Josephson from Victoria, an NHL draft pick of the Seattle Kraken. The tour finishes off Nov. 27 in Everett, Washington, against the Western Conference-leading Silverbacks and prodigy rookie defenceman Landon DuPont, only the second player in history after current Chicago Blackhawks sophomore forward Connor Bedard to receive exceptional status to play in the WHL as a 15-year-old.
The Royals return to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Nov. 29-30 against the Thunderbirds.
