It will be a bittersweet trade-off for the Victoria Royals when they welcome back one elite player while losing another for a two-game Western Hockey League set Friday and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the Red Deer Rebels.
Just as forward and 2012 third-round Florida Panthers draft pick Steven Hodges is about to rejoin the lineup Friday for the first time this season after leg surgery, star defenceman Joe Hicketts will be missing indefinitely because of upper-body surgery.
Hicketts, touted as a first- or second-round pick for the 2014 NHL draft, was injured last weekend in a game against the Kelowna Rockets. In 15 games this season, Hicketts has four goals and five assists and is a team-best plus-5.
“We’re obviously disappointed. You can’t replace Joe,” admitted Royals head coach Dave Lowry. “But it does create an opportunity for somebody else to step up.”
Meanwhile, Lowry said Hodges “is going to be thrown right into the fire.”
“It’s [almost] November. The only way he’s going to get into game shape is to play a lot and he understands that.”
The Royals are 9-7-1 and the Rebels 6-8.
