The Victoria Royals players are now spread from Minnesota to California to Sweden for a Christmas break that couldn’t come soon enough for a club (17-17-3) that is winless in its last four games.
“The break is good for everybody. It’s a grind with all the games and travel,” said Royals assistant coach Enio Sacilotto, 0-3-1 so far as bench boss in the eight-game absence of head coach Dave Lowry, who is away as assistant coach of the Canadian team preparing for the 2015 world junior championship.
The ebbs and flows of a Western Hockey League season would baffle most tidal chart experts because they often follow no pattern.
Sacilotto admitted he was most concerned about Prince George, which had previously been gaining ground. But the Cougars (17-18) lost their last three games before the break. The Vancouver Giants (16-18), who had been left for dead, meanwhile have won their last seven as new head coach and former NHL bench boss Claude Noel seems to have revitalized a formerly faltering squad.
Such are the imponderables of junior hockey and young players.
Even within games, the swings in fortune can be lacerating, as they have been the last two outings for Victoria in Washington state. The Royals fell behind early to both Seattle and Everett, then rallied to lead, only to see the Thunderbirds and Silvertips both comeback late.
“Momentum swings are a mental thing and it’s our job as coaches to educate the players about them, and of the importance of the next shift after a goal,” said Sacilotto, who said he is keeping in close touch with Lowry.
At the break, the B.C. Division is the Kelowna Rockets (28-5-3) and everybody else. The second-place Royals are a whopping 22 points behind Kelowna. The Cougars are three points behind Victoria with two games in hand, which makes the Royals’ first two games after the break — Dec. 27-28 against Prince George — important ones at the Memorial Centre. Vancouver is five points in arrears of the Royals with three games in hand, while Kamloops is six points behind Victoria but has played one more game.
The top-three teams in both the B.C. and U.S. Division make the playoffs with the final Western Conference post-season dance card to be filled by the next two highest placers regardless of division.
Individual-player highlights for the Royals before the break include Joe Hicketts, who still leads the WHL in points for defencemen despite missing the last four games away at the Canadian team camp for the 2015 world juniors. Victoria’s Travis Brown leads all WHL defencemen in goals with 13, while power-forward Austin Carroll is tied for fourth in WHL goals with 22.
Forward Greg Chase has four goals and 11 points but a minus-four rating in 11 games for Victoria since being acquired from the Calgary Hitmen in a notable trade for Keegan Kanzig featuring two NHL-signed players. The six-foot-five Kanzig, known as a physical and defensive blueliner, has five assists and is plus-11 in 11 games for the Hitmen.
The WHL trade deadline is Jan. 10. Royals GM Cam Hope is not tipping his hand about any further moves, or if he will be a buyer for this season or seller stocking up for the future if he does pull the trigger again.
