If you’ve ever wondered how much a rivalry means in sports, look no further than to the Vancouver Giants and Victoria Royals, who are set to face off in round two of the WHL playoffs Friday night.

The two teams have a long history, but for the Giants, it goes back to just last season, when Victoria ended their playoff hopes after a lengthy first round battle that went down to the wire.

“It amps it up a bit. They knocked us out last year, so all the guys in there who were on the team last year are pretty pumped up for the series,” forward Davis Koch told CTV News.

Their head-to-head rivalry this season was also one for the books, with six of the 10 games being decided by one goal. Both teams are prepared for this series to go the distance.

“We expected it to be a seven-game series, that’s the mindset we went into it with and you can’t take anyone lightly,” Giants defenceman Dylan Plouffe said. “That’s what playoff hockey is for. You got to take everything in stride and go with the punches.”

The Giants, who finished the season first in the Western Conference, are going into round two confident, after winning their first playoff series since the 2009-10 season. It wasn’t an easy battle though, as it took six games to get past the Seattle Thunderbirds.

“We learned how to take some adversity. Going into game one, we had a great game, and game two, we didn’t have the best game,” said Plouffe. “Just kind of taking it game by game, it’s a seven-game series for a reason, and that’s what we learned, we had to run with adversity and we did it.”

Schedule

Game 1 – Friday, April 5 – Victoria @ Vancouver – 7:30 p.m. PT

Game 2 – Saturday, April 6 – Victoria @ Vancouver – 7 p.m. PT

Game 3 – Tuesday, April 9 – Vancouver @ Victoria - 7:05 p.m. PT

Game 4 –Thursday, April 11 – Vancouver @ Victoria - 7:05 p.m. PT

Game 5* – Saturday, April 13 – Victoria @ Vancouver - 7 p.m. PT

Game 6* – Monday, April 15 – Vancouver @ Victoria - 7:05 p.m. PT

Game 7* – Wednesday, April 17 – Victoria @ Vancouver - 7 p.m. PT