There are road games that just become a blur — another rink, another town — and then there are road games that players savour.
Victoria forward Austin Carroll gets one of those tonight when the Royals (2-4-1) roll into Calgary for a Western Hockey League game against the Hitmen (3-2-1). Although he was born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, Carroll’s family originally is from Calgary and he has plenty of relatives who will be in the stands tonight at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“It’s exciting when you have family there at an away game,” said Carroll, before the Royals left for their extended six-games-in-nine-nights swing through the Central Division of the Eastern Conference.
And then there is the Calgary Flames connection. A seventh-round selection of the club in the 2014 draft, Carroll impressed enough in the National Hockey League team’s training camp to receive an extended look by the Flames.
Their interest in the six-foot-three power forward, who led Victoria in goals last season with 34, may not be misplaced. Since being returned to junior from the Flames, Carroll has recorded four goals and seven points for the Royals in five games.
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Carroll knows the Flames brass will be watching closely tonight as they get a rare up-close look at him. But he said he’s not feeling any added pressure.
“I’m going to prepare like for any other game,” said Carroll.
“People [Flames staff] are going to be watching, for sure. But I can’t let that get to my head.”
The method of operation doesn’t change because of the unique circumstance for him tonight in Cow Town.
“I’m just going to do what I do and play my physical, power game,” said Carroll, who is 20 and in his fourth season with the Royals and fifth in junior hockey after a rookie campaign with the Coquitlam Express of the BCHL.
The Hitmen, meanwhile, had 10 players in 2014 NHL camps. Three of them are signed to NHL contracts — forward Jake Virtanen with the Vancouver Canucks, defenceman and Hitmen captain Kenton Helgesen with the Anaheim Ducks and goaltender Chris Driedger with the Ottawa Senators. The injured Virtanen, the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft, has yet to play this season for the Hitmen. Driedger has also yet to make an appearance in goal. Forward Chase Lang from Nanaimo, a 2014 sixth-round draft pick of the Minnesota Wild, leads the Hitmen in scoring with seven points, three of them goals.
The Royals continue their trip Saturday in Medicine Hat against the Tigers, before a game Tuesday in Red Deer against the Rebels.
