The Victora Royals have ended thier season, losing 3-2 to the Everett Silvertips in the longest game in Western Hockey League playoff history.
Sunday’s marathon of a game at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre lasted 151 minutes and 36 seconds before Everett forward Cal Babych scored the game winner, which came 11:36 into the fifth overtime. The record was previously held by the Victoriaville Tigers and the Hull Olympiques in 1999 when they participated in a 146 minute and 31 second contest.
Royals’ netminder Griffen Outhouse started for the homeside and turned aside 72 of 75 pucks fired his way. Everett’s goalie Carter Hart stopped 64 of the 66 shots he faced.
The Silvertips were the top seed in the western conference and clinched the best of seven opening round series 4-2 over the eighth-seed Royals. They’ll face off against the Seattle Thunderbirds in the second round of playoff action.
The Victoria Cougars had a similar outcome, losing 4-3 to the Campbell River Storm in quadruple overtime during the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) semi-finals on Sunday in Esquimalt. Christian Brandt scored the game winner to propel the Storm to a 4-3 win over the Victoria Cougars and secure a berth at the 2017 Cyclone Taylor Cup.
In a game which lasted four hours and 22 minutes, Brandt fired a wrist shot past Cougars netminder Anthony Ciurro from an impossible angle. Ciurro was beaten on the 85th Campbell River shot.
The win marks the second VIJHL Championship Series for the Storm in three years.
Campbell River now joins the Aldergrove Kodiaks (PJHL champions), Beaver Valley Nitehawks (KIJHL champions), and Creston Valley Thunder Cats (Host) at the 2017 Cyclone Taylor Cup which runs April 6 to 9.