A .500 team over the unofficial first half of the Western Hockey League season, the Victoria Royals are hoping the latter portion of the 2014-15 campaign is much like last season’s.
The 17-17-2-1 Royals return from the Christmas break with a weekend double-header against the visiting Prince George Cougars, starting tonight at 7 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, then wrapping up the two-game set with a Sunday matinée at 1 p.m.
Presents have been unwrapped and plenty of turkey consumed — now it’s time to get back to work.
“Everybody should be refreshed and ready to go,” said Royals assistant coach Enio Sacilotto, who continues to run the bench with head man Dave Lowry away at the world junior championship as an assistant with Team Canada. “You would think everyone would come back with some enthusiasm and raring to go.”
The Royals rolled back into town on Friday for their evening skate in preparation of the 17-18-0-0 Cougars, who have become a traditional opponent following the Christmas intermission.
Victoria has played host to P.G. the last two seasons and have easily handled the Cougars with four wins, including 8-1 and 5-2 victories last season and 5-1 and 4-3 triumphs in 2012-13.
“For sure, it would be nice to see that continue, but they’re a lot better club, much better than they’ve been,” said Sacilotto, who missed last year’s return as he helped coach Team Pacific — which included Chaz Reddekopp and Tyler Soy of the Royals — to silver at the World Under-17 tournament.
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The Cougars sit three points back of the Royals and have two games in hand, setting up an important matchup. Both teams are mired in slumps — Victoria is 0-3-1 with Sacilotto at the helm, while Lowry has been away, and the Cougars at 0-3.
“We didn’t play well against Prince Albert (a 1-0 home win back on Dec. 9) and that continued against Vancouver,” Sacilotto said of 6-3 and 4-0 losses at home and away, respectively, against the Giants.
“Against Seattle (5-4 loss) and Everett (7-6 shootout defeat) we were better. We still made mistakes, but they’re correctable,” Sacilotto said of the road setbacks. “We had a greater compete level and better work ethic.”
The good news is the club is back at home where it has managed a very respectable 10-5-2-0 log.
“It’s nice to start up again at home and it would be great to have a big crowd waiting for us,” said Sacilotto. “Especially the way it went on the road this last set. It hasn’t been great [the recent three-game road losing streak] so it’s nice to be back in front of the home crowd.”
At this time last season, the Royals were 23-13-0-2 overall and an amazing 12-5-0-1 on the road compared to 11-8-0-1 at SOFMC. Victoria went 25-7-1-1 overall after the break in 2013-14 for a 48-20-1-3 wrap-up to the regular season.
“Last year we found our pace in the second half and we were very good on the road. This year there have been ups and downs, after a bit of a slow start as well,” said Sacilotto. “If you look at it closely, the goals against have been the biggest difference.”
During this 0-3-1 run, the Royals have allowed 21 goals in regulation time, which simply isn’t good enough.
“It’s been everybody. We need a better commitment to defending,” said Sacilotto.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Royals are also without defenceman Joe Hicketts, who is with Lowry and Team Canada. … Brandon Magee was to be re-evaluated upon his return Friday after missing the last three games due to injury. … Haydn Hopkins won’t have to make the long trek south like his Cougars teammates. The Victoria native is home for the Christmas break. The 17-year-old centre has a goal and four assists in 19 games for Prince George this season.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
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