The Victoria Royals’ quest for consistency begins from the crease out.
The Royals, treading above the water line at 8-7-2 in the Western Hockey League after winning 50 games last season and the league regular-season title, meet the Red Deer Rebels (8-5-2) tonight at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Sophomore Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse has been brilliant in flashes. But standout games in goal have often been followed by soft outings.
Despite facing only 13 shots, a wraparound goal on him proved decisive as the winner in a home loss to Everett. That was followed by an outstanding display in which Outhouse was named first star in a 2-1 victory in Kamloops. The native of Likely, B.C., however, was chased from the nets after just two periods the following night in Kelowna. But in his next start, Outhouse was back on beam in a 40-save performance Saturday night in Everett to be named second star in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Silvertips.
“Griffen has a ways to go in maturing as a goalie,” said Victoria head coach Dave Lowry.
Goaltenders need to play well in back-to-back games at this level, said the Victoria bench boss. “You have to earn the net, and getting in net is based on performance. The net is available and we have two guys [Outhouse and Dylan Myskiw] fighting for it. They better start taking it.”
Outhouse, 18, and Myskiw, 17, are among the youngest crease combination in the WHL. This is not an academic issue in a Western Conference teeming with either veteran 20-year-old goaltenders such as Prince George with Ty Edmonds and Kelowna with Comox product Michael Herringer or NHL-potential crease talent such as Carter Hart of Everett, second-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Connor Ingram of Kamloops, third-round selection of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Teams in the Western Conference this season will only go as far as their goaltending takes them.
Outhouse, despite his relative youth, is an even-keeled customer.
“Obviously, [he and Myskiw] are young guys who have to grow,” Outhouse said.
The talk of consistency is not something he compulsively thinks about. “It’s one of those things goalies go through. In this league, you have to play [well] back-to-back. On your next chance, you just go out there and do your best.”
That will come tonight for Outhouse, as he will likely get the nod from Lowry to follow up his towering, 40-save, second-star performance from Saturday night in Everett.
There is mild frustration, but as befitting a veteran team, no sign of high anxiety.
“Last year, we caught teams off guard,” Lowry said. “This season, we are seeing the best of everybody, and we haven’t raised our level. There is still more to get [out of his group].”
Meanwhile, sniper Tyler Soy continues to chase goal standards. He has 99 in his Royals career and is tracking down the record of 101 scored by former Royals forward Brandon Magee in the six seasons the team has been located on the Island.
The all-time franchise record, including the five seasons the club was located in Chilliwack and known as the Bruins, is 140 by Ryan Howse, with Magee second at 113. Howse, who was with the franchise in Chilliwack before Soy’s time, never realized his projected potential as a player and is now coaching. Soy, however, played on the Royals with Magee, who went on to the minor-pro ECHL and is now with the Lacombe Generals in Alberta senior hockey.
“I’m not looking at records and not thinking about them too much,” said Soy, a seventh-round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks, who has four goals in the last two games.
But if they come, there could be some acknowledgment.
“I might send Brandon a text or something [when he surpasses Magee’s career goal totals],” Soy said.
