One of the pre-game songs played Wednesday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre had Kiwi indie artist Lorde, who has probably never heard of the Western Hockey League, intoning: We’ll never be Royals.
Her lyrics inadvertently are almost uncanny in touching on a truth about the Victoria Royals, who will never be the real Royals without the crucial presence of Keegan Kanzig, Joe Hicketts, Brandon Magee and Steven Hodges.
The Victoria WHL club (1-3 with three straight losses) continued without the core foursome in a 6-1 loss to the undefeated Chiefs (3-0) as Spokane forward Michael Aviani scored four times before a subdued announced crowd of 3,157.
But help could be on the way with Kanzig expected back today from the Calgary Flames of the NHL, while highly-touted 2014 NHL draft prospect Hicketts is day-to-day with injury. The injured Magee could still be out for another week, while Florida Panthers third-round draft pick Hodges is gone for several more weeks due to surgery.
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After Tuesday night’s 6-2 loss to the Chiefs, Victoria head coach Dave Lowry said this stretch was a prime opportunity for other players to gain ice time and step up. He even dressed first-round 2013 bantam draft pick Dante Hannoun, using up one of his five allowed regular-season games in making his WHL debut Wednesday. It might have said something that Hannoun, a five-foot-six 15-year-old, was probably the most dangerous Royals player on the ice. Lowry described Hannoun as “smart, intelligent and opportunistic.”
Victoria came out strong with a 10-3 shots advantage when assessed two penalties in quick succession. Aviani then to put Spokane ahead 1-0 on the two-man advantage at 16:20 of the first period as the Chiefs went 3-for-5 on the odd-man on the night.
“Their goalie [Garret Hughson] made saves tonight and their power play was better than ours. We need to be a more disciplined team [in terms of taking penalties],” said Lowry, who wasn’t displeased with his club’s effort.
Victoria missed a potential tide-turning penalty shot for the second night in a row as Brandon Fushimi was stymied in the second period by Hughson. Later in the middle period, Aviani again scored on the power-play to make it 2-0 at 11:56. Mitch Holmberg, on yet another power play, made it 3-0 at 15:15 with his sixth goal in three games.
Connor Chartier and then Aviani with his hat-trick goal, scored short-handed, put it away in the third period. Royals forward Luke Harrison ended Hughson’s shutout bid with a power-play goal at 13:17 before Aviani notched his final counter to close out scoring.
“Even with the guys we have out, we still have a great group,” said Harrison.
“But we have to keep pushing and be a lot harder to play against.”
Hughson made 28 saves. Patrik Polivka stopped 26 shots for the Royals.
Victoria now embarks on a four-game road trip through Kelowna on Saturday, Prince George next Tuesday and Wednesday and Kamloops Oct 4.
