They apparently like to get directly to the point in the American Division of the Western Hockey League.
A rookie-laced Victoria Royals roster went 0-2-1 in a pre-season opening tournament over the weekend in Everett, Washington, against the more veteran-laden line-ups of the Everett Silvertips, Seattle Thunderbirds and Tri City Americans.
“I can’t speak for what the other teams are doing [in the pre-season], but we want to evaluate our younger guys,” said Victoria head coach Dave Lowry, 2013-14 WHL coach of the year for leading the Royals to franchise records for wins [48] and points [100].
“Overall, we’re pleased with the effort and how these [younger] guys played against the other teams’ older players. Our [rookies] were not intimidated in going up against the other teams’ veteran players.”
Royals GM Cam Hope says each WHL team is in a different phase of their cycle.
“Not every year do you have young players who are really in the mix to make the roster like we happen to have right now,” Hope noted
“So we want to give them as much ice as possible. We still have six to seven cuts to make but we also have to be careful because we have six players going to NHL rookie camps later this month. So some of these [younger Royals aspirants] are going to get extra time to fight it out.”
The Royals soon off to pro camps are Joe Hicketts with the Detroit Red Wings, Travis Brown with the Ottawa Senators, Axel Blomqvist with the Winnipeg Jets and Austin Carroll, Keegan Kanzig and Brandon Magee with the Calgary Flames.
After dressing 10 rookies or aspirants in a 1-0 loss to the Silvertips on Friday and 12 rookies in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Thunderbirds on Saturday, the Royals went with 11 rookies Sunday in a 3-1 loss to the Americans — goaltenders Michael Herringer and Evan Smith, defencemen Ralph Jarratt and Scott Walford and forwards Ryan Peckford, Kristian Ferletak, Jared Dmytriw, Matt Dykstra, Regan Nagy, Matthew Campese and Matthew Phillips.
Peckford scored the lone Victoria goal against the Americans on Sunday.
One of the Royals’ chief concerns heading into this season is offensive production. The five goals in three exhibition games over the weekend — not to mention going 0-10 on the power play Sunday against Tri City — wouldn’t get the job done in the regular season. But this isn’t the regular season. Royals veterans Kanzig, Carroll, Brown and Coleman Vollrath didn’t make the trip to Everett. Magee is suspended while Blomqvist is with the Swedish junior national team at the Four Nations tournament in Europe.
The duel between Comox’s Herringer and Colorado’s Smith continued in the Victoria crease to decide who will backup incumbent goaltender Vollrath this season. Herringer, who blocked 23 of 24 shots on Friday against Everett, stopped 25 of 23 shots Sunday with Tri City’s final goal into an empty net. Smith was busy in making 35 saves Saturday against Seattle.
“Both played well,” said Lowry.
“This is a roster hole we need filled and it’s going to be competitive.”
Hope concurred.
“We kept Vollrath home and threw them [Herringer and Smith] both into the fire,” said the Victoria GM, who was named 2013-14 WHL executive of the year.
“And both were terrific. This is a decision these two goaltenders will make for us.”
Meanwhile, the Royals have sent home 15-year-old players Walford, Peckford and Brayden Pachal. That leaves 26 skaters and three goaltenders remaining on the Victoria roster.
The Royals’ seven-game pre-season continues next weekend with games at UBC against the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday and Kelowna Rockets on Sunday.
