Might as well get it out of the way.
Victoria Royals head coach Dave Lowry knows he will get the Connor McDavid question a lot, now that Lowry has officially been named head coach of the Canadian team for the 2016 world junior hockey championship in Helsinki.
“It all depends on which [NHL] team drafts McDavid [and whether it will keep him on the roster as an 18-year-old rookie],” said Lowry, about the sport’s next projected superstar.
“The plan will be to move forward without him. And if we get him [for the world juniors], it will be an added bonus.”
McDavid is one of six players, including defenceman Joe Hicketts of the Royals, eligible to return from the gold-medallist 2015 Canadian team, with which Lowry was the assistant coach.
“[Hicketts] played his way on to the national team last year and we hope he continues to develop,” said Lowry, about his prize Victoria blue-liner.
The Royals skated Monday in practice without Lowry, who was in Calgary for the announcement.
“[Lowry] did a good job in the 2015 world junior tournament and was well-prepared and well-liked by the players,” said Hicketts, who on Sunday was named Royals MVP for the 2014-15 regular season.
“Dave is a good communicator and makes sure the players know exactly what they need to be doing.”
In stepping up as Team Canada bench boss, Lowry must deal with the larger Olympic-size ice sheet in Finland. The 2015 world juniors were held in Toronto and Montreal.
“The team game, tighter play, and defence come into play more [on the larger ice sheet],” said Lowry, by phone from Calgary.
Earlier Monday, Lowry addressed the national media.
“We are going to build on the momentum [from the 2015 gold-medal performance],” he said, on the TSN-televised announcement from Hockey Canada headquarters in Calgary.
“Our identity is not going to change. We are going to continue with our mandate and process. Our best players are going to play a certain way, and it’s our way. We found it to be extremely successful in 2015. I look forward to the challenge that lays ahead in 2016.”
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Canada had not won gold at the world junior championship since 2009 before ending the dry spell this year.
“I’m extremely excited about the group coming in and extremely excited about going into the 2016 tournament as defending gold-medallist champions and look forward to continued success,” said Lowry.
Lowry, who played 19 seasons in the NHL, is in his third season of coaching the Royals of the Western Hockey League. He guided Victoria to a franchise-record 48 victories last season and a franchise second-best 39 wins this season. He is the winningest coach in the nine-season history of the Royals/Chilliwack Bruins franchise and is preparing the B.C. Division second-seed Royals for their 2015 opening-round playoff series against the third-seed Prince George Cougars, beginning with games Friday and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Although his news conference was national in scope, Lowry made a point Monday of mentioning the Royals.
“I want to thank [Victoria GM] Cam Hope and [Royals owner] Graham Lee,” he said.
“This is a huge commitment and sacrifice from the club team.”
The Royals did not perform well this season when Lowry was away over Christmas because of his national-team commitments. But when it comes to club and country, the latter must prevail as a priority.
“Dave has earned it,” said Hope.
“He has an ability to get players to focus on what they need to do to win, and that’s really important in a short tournament such as the world championship. It’s an ability to get players to play together quickly.”
Lowry will be assisted on the Canadian bench in Helsinki by Dominique Ducharme of the Halifax Mooseheads and Martin Raymond of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, both from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and D.J. Smith from the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League.
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