Leon Draisaitl comes from Cologne, a city in Germany with a famed cathedral, to the cathedral of hockey on Blanshard Street. He does so this weekend as the reigning Western Hockey League player of the week with two goals and 12 points in his last five games.
It almost doesn’t seem fair that the import centre — the third overall selection in the 2014 NHL draft who began the season with two goals and nine points in 37 games for the Edmonton Oilers — is even with the Kelowna Rockets for their intriguing two-game WHL set tonight and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the Victoria Royals. Nor for that matter, world junior championship gold-medallist defenceman Josh Morrissey.
Kelowna, ranked No. 2 in the Canadian Hockey League and leading the WHL at 45-9-4, was already good enough without them. But the Rockets went looking for the kill shot with trade-deadline deals that brought both Draisaitl and Morrissey to the Okanagan from the Prince Albert Raiders for a flurry of promising young players and bantam draft picks, including Kelowna’s first-round selection this year.
Is it over the top on a roster that also includes Madison Bowey, like Morrissey a blue-liner with world junior champion Canada in January, league goal-scoring co-leader Rourke Chartier, projected 2015 first-round NHL draft pick Nick Merkley, and 34-goal scorer Tyson Baillie?
Maybe not for a team looking ahead to a potential WHL final against the Brandon Wheat Kings (43-9-6). Not that any Western Conference team, including the Royals (32-22-4), plans on just handing the conference to Kelowna.
People were wondering at the trade deadline in January whether the Royals would blow up the roster and trade away key veterans to build for the future. Instead, Victoria doubled down and traded for even more veteran depth and is all-in for this season.
Royals GM Cam Hope, who answered his own rhetorical question in January, followed up on those thoughts Friday as his Victoria club has won 15 of its last 20 games in a 15-4-1 run that hit a bit of a bump Tuesday in a 4-3 home loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors.
“The beauty of sports is that you never know how things are going to turn out in a season … it is the first and foremost of all reality entertainment … anything can happen,” he said.
The Rockets swoop onto Blanshard Street today having scored 24 goals in their last three games. That includes the 7-3 win over Victoria last Friday and an 11-4 victory against Kamloops on Wednesday as every Rockets player except one got on the scoresheet in the latter game.
“Kelowna is a high-powered, highly-skilled team,” said Victoria co-captain Brandon Magee.
“They have a player [Draisaitl] who has played most of the season in the NHL, but you can’t focus on just one player on that team. We have to be at our best in the neutral zone and defensive zone while bearing down on our chances when we get them.”
Fellow 20-year-old Victoria forward Austin Carroll is having an impactful season and is tied for 10th in league scoring with 68 points. His presence up front will be crucial as the Royals play the Rockets three consecutive times, including Wednesday in the Okanagan.
“We have to play a structured game and a disciplined game,” said Carroll.
Especially against the 19-year-old Draisaitl — son of German national team three-time Winter Olympian Peter Draisaitl — who has 30 points and a plus-11 rating in 18 games with the Rockets since returning to the WHL from the NHL Oilers.
“We have to play him smart and physical. He’s big but he can also dance around. We have to play the body on him,” said Carroll.
