If any of the 16- or 17-year-old aspirants trying out for the Victoria Royals make the team, they will be enrolling at Vic High.
That, of course, only after the government and teachers end their bench-clearing brawl.
But Royals head coach Dave Lowry gave his young charges a bit of a math tutorial before they head back to class.
Victoria dressed 17 skaters and two goaltenders in Thursday’s 3-0 exhibition loss to the Vancouver Giants at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Then came the arithmetic lesson.
“Six players [currently missing from the Royals roster] will be coming back from NHL camps and we had a veteran not playing [Jack Walker sat out Thursday’s game],” noted Lowry, following the game.
Well boys, crunch the numbers.
The last chance for the aspirants to state their cases comes tonight when Victoria (1-3-2) closes out the preseason with a game in Kelowna against the Rockets (2-2 heading into a Friday night game against the Giants).
The Royals have 23 skaters and three goaltenders still on the roster. Something will have to give. But the question is when? A lot depends on when Joe Hicketts will be returned from the Detroit Red Wings, Axel Blomqvist from the Winnipeg Jets, Travis Brown from the Ottawa Senators and Keegan Kanzig, Austin Carroll and Brandon Magee from the Calgary Flames.
The timing of the returns — or even the slim chance that one or two of these six players will be retained in the pros — is completely the purview of the NHL teams and totally out of the Royals’ control.
“We’re at the mercy of the NHL teams. They [timing of the player returns] dictate when we have our roster set,” said Lowry.
That could buy the younger players some more time, with the regular season opener fast approaching next Friday in Kamloops against the Blazers.
Sixteen-year-old Dante Hannoun will use any extra time by continuing to try to impress on Royals coaches that he plays bigger than his five-foot-six frame. The forward is certainly quick — that’s basic survival instinct for Hannoun — but he’s also showing a feisty physical side. He even had a penalty Thursday.
“Bigger guys don’t expect a little guy to throw his body around,” said Hannoun. “I catch them by surprise.”
The Royals will be missing Kristian Ferletak tonight because of a one-game suspension for his goaltender interference major Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Rockets will be missing 11 players today to NHL camps.
