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Victoria Royals ready for national TV spotlight

Draft-eligible Western Hockey League players don’t get too many chances to skate into scouts’ living rooms and land right in the dip bowl. There is no better opportunity to be seen than in a network-televised game.

Draft-eligible Western Hockey League players don’t get too many chances to skate into scouts’ living rooms and land right in the dip bowl.

There is no better opportunity to be seen than in a network-televised game.

“It’s cool to be playing on national TV,” said Victoria Royals forward Tyler Soy, of tonight’s game against the Kamloops Blazers at 7:30 p.m. on Sportsnet from Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

Soy is ranked 152nd overall by Central Scouting for the 2015 NHL draft and Royals blue-liner Chaz Reddekopp 199th.

The TV cameras have raised the personal stakes a bit tonight for the pair, not to mention for the several undrafted 19-year-olds that dot the Royals roster and who will be free agents in the pro game once they age out of junior.

But tonight is only a snapshot and little more.

Both Soy and Reddekopp pointed to the new poster boy for those passed over in the draft.

“Obviously, you want to be drafted, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. We just look at Joe in our dressing room,” said Soy.

That, of course, is Royals defenceman Joe Hicketts, who rebounded from being overlooked in the 2014 NHL draft to signing a contract as a free agent with the Detroit Red Wings and winning gold with Canada this month at the world junior hockey championship.

“Getting drafted gets your foot in the door. But Joe showed persistence, and by doing so, delivered an important message for everybody in our dressing room,” said Reddekopp.

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Victoria head coach Dave Lowry said he believes Soy and Reddekopp have the ability to move higher up the draft rankings, but that only comes with perseverance.

“My message to them is simple — keep working,” said Lowry.

“They will never get a better role model for that than a guy like Joe Hicketts. [Draft rankings] are just a couple of people’s [scouts’] opinions. That’s all it is. Joe went from highly regarded to not drafted to signing an NHL contract.”

The Royals (25-19-3) and Blazers (17-24-6) both come into tonight game on rolls, with Victoria on a five-game winning streak and Kamloops on a three-game winning run. Lowry has his team’s attention after returning from his duties as Canadian team assistant coach at the world junior championship.

Veteran mentor Don Hay has his Blazers’ attention as well. He’s in the first year of a rebuild with the Kamloops franchise he led to Memorial Cup greatness in the 1990s.

“This game is all about momentum,” said Lowry, the 2013-14 WHL coach of the year.

One player who appears to have it is Victoria forward Greg Chase. His two goals, including the overtime winner, gave the Royals a 4-3 victory Sunday in Edmonton against the defending Memorial Cup champion Oil Kings and a sweep of Victoria’s three-game Alberta swing. That was quite the ideal location for Chase to shine, considering he is under NHL contract to the Edmonton Oilers.

“[Chase] is a game-breaker … with the ability to score when the game is on the line,” said Lowry.