Victoria Royals

Victoria was left without a WHL team when the Cougars franchise relocated to Prince George in 1994. The city acquired a professional ECHL—the Victoria Salmon Kings—in 2004 when the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre was opened, but the city had made inquiries about returning the WHL to Vancouver Island in the past.

While two minority owners of the Chilliwack Bruins hoped to purchase the team and keep it in Chilliwack following the 2010–11 season, they were outvoted by the remaining partners who opted to sell the team to a group planning to relocate the franchise. On April 20, 2011, the WHL announced the approval of the sale and the relocation of the Bruins to Victoria. The relocation was brought about partially by the WHL's desire to protect the Victoria market, as the league feared that a potential summer relocation of the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg could result in the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose moving to Victoria.

The Royals got off to a relatively strong start in Victoria, making the playoffs in each of the team's first eight seasons; the team was on track to make the playoffs for a ninth straight year in 2019–20 when the season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. The team's best season came in 2015–16. The Royals reached the 50-win mark for the first time and secured their first Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the league's best team in the regular season. They ultimately lost their second-round playoff series against the defending champion Kelowna Rockets; the Royals were leading in the seventh and deciding game when the Rockets tied the game with less than a second remaining in regulation, going on to win in overtime.