The Western Hockey League club will build on it upon its return tonight against the Prince George Cougars in a fifth straight post-Christmas clash against the provincial opponent as both teams venture back from the holiday season for a two-game set at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Victoria is 6-1-0-1 in the eight previous post-holiday clashes with the Cougars.
In Year 1 on the Island, after the team moved from Chilliwack, the Royals travelled to Portland where they dropped a pair of results to the Winterhawks by 6-3 and 7-6 scores.
The Royals won the first game off Prince George upon their return last year by a 6-2 count before dropping a 3-2 shootout result over the Dec. 27-28 games. Two seasons ago, Victoria lost 4-3, but followed that up with a 4-0 win over the Cougars, also on Dec. 27-28.
In 2013-14, Victoria hammered P.G. 8-1 and 5-2 on the same dates after 5-1 and 4-3 shootout wins in 2012-13, but on Dec. 28-29.
“I think it works for them [the Cougars]. It gives them a real good location to bring their players in to and it allows them to play some games and work their way back home,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry, who looks forward to the annual outing. “I think any time you can play division or conference opponents it adds to the excitement.”
The Royals are 17-15-4-0 at the break for 38 points, well back of the 54 points the Cougars have gathered with their 26-8-2-0 mark. Three of those wins, and a loss, have come against Victoria.
“P.G. is a really good team and it’s an easy game to get up for,” said Royals forward Jack Walker. “We always enjoy playing them and it’s a team we’ve played in playoffs, too.”
The Royals gathered Monday for an evening practice in preparation for tonight’s first game back for what will be a tough stretch drive.
“Every game after Christmas is tough, but the one thing is they have the same break we do,” Lowry said of the first-place overall Cougars, who are ranked just eighth nationally. “For us, it’s going to be how do we manage the break, how do they manage the time off and do we do the work while we’re away?”
Coming back should not be difficult, especially for the older players who have been through it before.
“I think it’s easy for them coming back. They’ve gone home, had the ability to spend some quality time with their families and they see their friends,” said Lowry. “Most of the time, they’re excited to be back. It’s the games heading into the break that are harder to manage.”
The goal is to move up the standings in the second half and getting some injured bodies back — such as veteran forward Tyler Soy, who is close to returning — would go a long way to helping the process.
“Obviously, in the position we are right now, it’s not where we want to be, but last year, after the break is when we started pouring it on,” said Walker. “It’s when our team found ourselves and discovered the way we needed to play to be successful.
“I’m thinking it’s going to be similar. We’ve had some guys out of the lineup here who will be coming back and that will help our situation.”
Defenceman Marsel Ibragimov agreed.
“I think you get a good rest and be ready to go. You have to be better in the second half. The second half is very important in the Western Hockey League and we want to be better in the second half,” he stressed.
