The WHL series is all evened up at two games apiece after a huge return by Victoria Royals forward Tyler Soy, the team’s second leading scorer during the regular season.
Soy returned to action with a hat-trick after missing the first three playoff games due to an undisclosed injury.
His line of Dante Hannoun (1g-4a), Matthew Phillips (1g-3a) and Tyler Soy (3g) combined for 12 points (5g-7a) at the Langley Events Centre on Thursday night as the club defeated the Vancouver Giants 7-3.
Fun facts from Game 4:
- Super Soy – Victoria’s Tyler Soy set the franchise record for most career post-season goals with his 17th playoff tally tonight. Soy, who played in his 45th post-season game, passed alumnus Jack Walker’s mark of 15 goals that he set in 38 playoff contests from 2013-2017. Soy (17g-14a) also tied with Walker (14g-17a) for the most post-season points in franchise history.
- Record Setter – With a goal and four assists, Victoria forward Dante Hannoun set the franchise record for most points in a single playoff game. The previous record of four points was set by alumnus Brandon Magee in 2015 against the Prince George Cougars and by current Royal Tyler Soy in 2016 against the Spokane Chiefs.
- Toss the Hats – Royals’ forward Tyler Soy scored three goals in his first game since March 17th for his first career WHL Playoff hat-trick. This is the fourth time in franchise history that a player has recorded a post-season hat-trick. The most recent playoff hat-trick for Victoria came from Greg Chase in Game 5 of the 2015 WHL Playoffs against the Prince George Cougars.
- Playoff Debut – Victoria netminder Dean McNabb played in his first WHL post-season game tonight. McNabb made three saves over 2:50 minutes of ice time at the end of the third period.
The Royals returns to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Saturday night for Game 5 of the series, with puck drop slated for 7:05 p.m.
First-round playoff schedule against the Vancouver Giants
- Game 5 – Saturday, March 31st – Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre – 7:05 p.m.
- Game 6 – Monday, April 2nd – Langley Events Centre – 2:00 p.m.
- Game 7 – Tuesday, April 3rd – Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre – 7:05 p.m. (if necessary)
