Berkly Catton registers hat trick, five points in Spokane Chiefs 6-3 win over Victoria

Last weekend, the Spokane Chiefs went to Prince George for a pair of road games against the Cougars – who are first in the conference and have clinched a division title and playoff spot with three weeks left in the season.

To come away with three points out of the two overtime games shows just how far this young Chiefs team has come this season.

Those points helped to solidify Spokane’s hold on the eighth and final playoff spot from the Western Conference. But entering Tuesday’s play with nine games remaining in the regular season and a nine-point lead over Tri-City, there was no time to rest on laurels.

Good thing the Chiefs have Berkly Catton.

Catton scored three goals and added two assists and the Chiefs beat the Victoria Royals 6-3 in a Western Hockey League game at the Arena.

Catton, who is expected to be one of the top picks in this year’s NHL draft, extended his team-leading goals total to 48 and points to 103. He is third in goals and tied for second in points in the league.

“The weekend was really good. We played well. It was a hard matchup against Prince George,” Chiefs coach Ryan Smith said. “(Victoria) is one of the better teams too – they came in and beat (Tri-City) and they gave Portland a good run. Tonight, I think it was anybody’s game until the maybe the last 12-14 minutes.

“We made it hard on ourselves tonight. We made some mistakes. We turned the puck over, took some penalties. I’m happy with the win. I think the process of the game didn’t go the way we wanted, but a win is a win and March 5 you’re not complaining about wins.”

The Chiefs are now 11 points clear of Tri-City with eight games to play.

“We’re happy with tonight and getting the win. We haven’t made the playoffs yet,” Smith said. “You have to accomplish small goals and you can’t win a championship if you don’t win in the playoffs, and you can’t win in the playoffs if you don’t get in, and you can’t get in if you don’t have a good regular season. So, there’s still work to be done.”

Catton drew a penalty early in the first on a nifty move around the cage, but the Chiefs (26-28-5-1) didn’t convert with the advantage. Shortly thereafter, Chiefs defenseman Will McIsaac was sent to the box for hooking and Victoria (28-25-5-4) promptly made good, as Cole Reschny scored on a wrist shot from the right point.

Midway through the period, the home team tied it up as Lukáš Král tipped home McIsaac’s shot from the point for his sixth goal of the season.

They made it 2-1 a few minutes later.

Shea Van Olm picked the pocket of a Victoria defenseman and fed Catton alone in the slot. Catton buried the one-timer for his team-leading 46th goal and 99th point of the season, extending both Catton and Conner Roulette’s points streak to 14 games.

“(Van Olm) was around the puck. He made some plays, you know, a couple of assists,” Smith said. “Nice play on Berkly’s first and third goal. He’s played in a Memorial Cup two years in a row. He knows how to play in big games and every game for us is big right now.” 

Chiefs forward Cam Parr leveled Victoria’s Reggie Newman with an open ice hit and the winger needed help off the ice. Parr was assessed a checking to the head penalty and the Royals tied it on a power-play goal by Casper Evensen-Haugen with 2:26 left in the first period.

Spokane took the lead 3 minutes into the second period. Chase Bertholet took a pass from Catton, held the puck through the high slot and sent a wrist shot past Victoria goalie Braden Holt for his 22nd goal of the season.

“Someone kind of mentioned ‘You know, that’s 99 or whatever.’ after the goal and maybe I thought about it a little bit,” Catton said of the possibility of his 100th point. “And then once Chase buried it, yeah, it’s pretty cool since Chase is a guy I kind of went through the ranks here with so it’s pretty, you know, storybook ending, I guess.” 

Victoria evened it up on Evensen-Haugen’s second of the night with 2023 third-overall pick Mathis Preston – in his fourth WHL game and first at home – in the box for hooking.

Defenseman Brayden Crampton got that one right back as his power play shot from the high slot was tipped out front and fluttered over the goalie’s shoulder and into the net to put the Chiefs up 4-3.

Catton made it 5-3 early in the third, collecting a pass from Parr in the neutral zone then skating through, past and around three defenders then deking Holt before flipping it past the goalie.

“I was fresh coming off the bench,” Catton said. “I kind of saw the d-man flat footed and made a move. And then got my feet going and beat the guy wide and put it low blocker – which is a shot I’ve been working on a lot lately. And you know, it went in and yeah, it was a good play.”

Catton completed the hat trick midway through the third, converting another feed from Van Olm.

“He’s a pretty special player, nice night,” Smith said. “Hat trick, 100 points all that. He tightens you up if you’re on the other team and our players just acknowledge that, you know, it’s nice to have him on our team.”

Catton has been enjoying a terrific season and once his goal and point totals started to surge over the past few weeks, he allowed himself to think about the “round numbers” of 50 goals and 100 points. 

“I think still my biggest goal is trying to dominate every game as much as I can – and I’m gonna try to continue to do that,” he said. “But I guess it was in the back of my head a little bit.”