It won’t show up on the pocket schedule. But the biggest feature of the Victoria Royals’ 2015-16 Western Hockey League schedule, released Wednesday, are the 11 to 12 games head coach Dave Lowry will miss during the stretch in December-January he will be away coaching Canada at the 2016 world junior championship in Helsinki.
“We’ve been through this before [Lowry was away last season as assistant coach of the gold-medallist Canadian team at the 2015 world juniors] and we will be adaptable and ready,” said Victoria GM Cam Hope.
Assistant coach Enio Sacilotto will take over the bench in Lowry’s absence.
The regular season begins Sept. 25 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the Portland Winterhawks, part of a six-game opening homestand to Oct. 7 that includes two-game sets against Portland, Kamloops and Spokane.
“I like that. It will help the players get their early footing,” said Hope.
There is another six-game homestand from Jan. 15-29.
The Victoria schedule features four Friday home dates, 11 on Saturday, four Sunday, two Monday, four Tuesday and six Wednesday dates.
The Royals will again play the Vancouver Giants 10 times and each of the rest of the B.C. Division — Kelowna, Kamloops and Prince George — eight times each. Victoria will meet each of the U.S. Division squads four times, twice at home and twice away.
The Eastern Division swing this season through Saskatchewan and Manitoba takes place early with six games in nine days between Oct. 30 and Nov. 7.
“For obvious reasons, before winter sets in, you want to get that trip done as early as possible,” noted Hope.
In terms of the Central Division, this is also the season the schedule tilts west with nine dates on Blanshard against Central foes and only three away.
The Royals season concludes with the traditional home-and-way set against Everett March 18-19. The WHL playoffs begin March 25.
Being on the Island will again factor into the Victoria schedule, as 22 of the regular-season home dates are packaged as 11 back-to-back doubles against the same team.
The 50th WHL season officially opens Sept. 24 with a battle between a couple of old-school franchises, the Regina Pats and Moose Jaw Warriors, in honour of the first WHL final in 1967 between the Pats and Moose Jaw Canucks.
Of the 792 games in the 2015-16 WHL regular season, the league says 593 of them — or 75 per cent — are on weekends, holidays or over the Christmas break.
The Royals open their seven-game exhibition schedule Sept. 4 in Everett against the Silvertips.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Hockey League’s European import draft, which takes place Tuesday, just got more urgent for the Royals with defenceman Alexey Sleptsov informing the club of his intention to remain in Russia to play pro next season. The Royals will select 38th among the 60 CHL teams, comprising the WHL, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior League. Each CHL club is allowed to carry two European import players. The Royals’ current remaining import player is Russian blue-liner Marsel Ibragimov.
“We will be making only one pick in the import draft,” confirmed Hope.
