Evan Smith stands out in Victoria Royals training camp, not only for his six-foot-six frame, but also because he is the lone NHL goaltending draft pick. But veteran Coleman Vollrath is the only goalie in camp with pro experience, even if it was just one minute of crease time following a line brawl near the end of a game in the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs last spring.
“I’m counting that as my pro debut,” beamed Vollrath, about his mop-up action with the Ontario Reign, the Southern California club that went to Game 7 of the ECHL Western Conference final against the eventual Kelly Cup champion Allen Americans of Texas.
Vollrath, who got the pro call from the Reign after the Royals were eliminated by the Kelowna Rockets in the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs, backed up Winnipeg Jets-prospect Jussi Olkinuora for the first two rounds before Canucks draft-pick Joe Cannata returned from injury to the Reign for the conference final.
“Both of those guys [Olkinuora and Cannata] are on NHL deals,” noted Vollrath, about his own aspirations.
Vollrath said he comes into Royals camp better for having had the pro ECHL experience.
“Those shooters can pick corners . . . it was a higher skill level,” he said.
He also learned to listen off the ice.
“A lot of the ECHL players have been through it, and have been on NHL contracts, and they told me to stick with it and that I have lots of time. It’ll happen.”
That makes this a key season in Vollrath’s progression. The native of Calgary was brought back as one of Victoria’s three allowable 20-year-old players, along with forwards Alex Forsberg and Logan Fisher.
The Royals can’t afford to gamble that Smith, despite his size and upside as a 2015 seventh-round draft pick of the Nashville Predators, is ready to start and that 16-year-old prospects Griffen Outhouse and Dylan Myskiw are ready to move up.
“Twenty-year-olds are looked to as the top guys and there is pressure to be that top guy night in and night out,” added Vollrath, entering his fourth season in Victoria, after posting a 2.99 goals-against average in 53 regular-season games in 2014-15.
The Royals braintrust wants Smith to push Vollrath for the starting job. Smith failed to stick last season and was sent by Victoria to the Austin Bruins of Minnesota in the NAHL, where his turnaround stellar play gained the attention of the Predators. Not to mention his size.
“It was a dream come true to be drafted, but that’s just the start,” said the 18-year-old native of Parker, Colorado.
“There is a spot open here [behind Vollrath] and there are goalies fighting for it [including the Royals’ goaltenders-of-the-future Outhouse and Myskiw]. I need to play my game, have a high compete level, and push myself.”
Royals training camp concludes today at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre with scrimmages from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. The annual Blue-White intrasquad game is Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Memorial Centre before the team departs for Everett, Washington, for the first pre-season game Friday.
ICE CHIPS: The Royals signed two 16-year-old forwards, five-foot-six Arjun Atwal of Edmonton and six-foot Zach Russell of Calgary, to the club’s 50-player protected list . . . Former Victoria blue-liner Travis Brown has signed an AHL pro contract with the St. John’s IceCaps, while fellow 2014-15 Royals-grad Brandon Magee, the hard-driving forward, will attend Dallas Stars rookie camp.
