The exodus has begun from Blanshard Street to disparate points on the map from Oklahoma City to Lucerne, Switzerland.
It didn’t take long following the Victoria Royals’ exit from the Western Hockey League playoffs, after the 4-1 second-round series loss to the Kelowna Rockets, for players to get their marching orders.
Forward Tyler Soy gets an international assignment, joining the Canadian team at the world Under-18 championship, which runs to Sunday in Lucerne and Zug, Switzerland. This is familiar territory for Soy, who was also part of the gold-medallist Canadian team at the U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament last summer in the Czech Republic.
Soy, the 78th-ranked North American skater for the 2015 NHL draft, suits up for the first time today at the worlds when undefeated Canada (3-0) plays Finland (6:30 a.m. on TSN). Soy had two goals and five assists in 10 playoff games for the Royals but was frustrated on numerous other close-in chances during the post-season.
Three Royals under NHL contracts, meanwhile, are off to pursue their pro careers in the American Hockey League playoffs. Defenceman Joe Hicketts, property of the Detroit Red Wings, has been assigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins. It extends an exhausting season, which included a gold medal for Canada at the 2015 world junior championship.
Forward Greg Chase, signed by the Edmonton Oilers, is off to the Oklahoma City Barons. Calgary-signed power-forward Austin Carroll will sit in the Flames’ press box because Calgary’s AHL affiliate, Adirondack, did not make the playoffs. Carroll is eligible for selection by the Flames in the current NHL playoffs, although that doesn’t seem likely.
Royals goaltender Coleman Vollrath, meanwhile, has signed a pro-tryout agreement with the Ontario Reign of the ECHL.
Victoria forward Brandon Magee and defenceman Travis Brown, like Carroll, have officially graduated from junior hockey. Magee and Brown said, on locker clearout day Sunday, they had not yet received pro offers.
Hicketts, Chase and Vollrath are eligible to return to the Royals.
Both Victoria GM Cam Hope and head coach Dave Lowry, however, said they fully expect Chase to stick in pro hockey and don’t anticipate him back next season as one of three allowable Royals 20-year-olds.
Vollrath is eligible to return as a 20-year-old, as is fellow goaltender Justin Paulic. One of them will be needed to mentor Griffen Outhouse, expected to make the jump from the B.C. Major Midget League as the Royals’ projected goaltender of the future.
“[Vollrath and Paulic] know we are not keeping two 20-year-old goalies,” said Lowry.
“It’s in their hands [how well they prepare off-season and perform next fall in training camp].”
With forward Alex Forsberg likely to take one of the returning 20-year-old slots, there is not a lot of room left over for the rest of the seven 19-year-olds the Royals carried this season.
“Those players know that’s the evolution of junior hockey. We have to make some tough decisions,” said Lowry.
>>> GET MORE VICTORIA ROYALS COVERAGE
For the second consecutive year, Victoria made it to Game 5 of the second round of the WHL playoffs following last year’s five-game loss to the Portland Winterhawks. That established records for the farthest the Royals/Chilliwack Bruins franchise has advanced in its nine seasons. But both times, the Royals reached the upper limits of their capability against truly elite Winterhawk and Rocket teams loaded with future NHL players. What’s it going to take to get past that barrier?
“If you draft [bantams], develop and build like Kelowna, then you become one of those [elite] teams,” said Hope, using the Rockets as his template for the future.
Said Lowry: “Kelowna and Portland didn’t just wake up good. It takes time. You need organizational depth [on and off the ice].”
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
