It’s like the staredown before a big UFC event, with the Kelowna Rockets playing the Bigfoot Silva role to the Victoria Royals’ Frank Mir.
If the Royals (33-23-4) get that far in the Western Hockey League playoffs, their second-round opponent is likely to be the Rockets (46-10-4).
With the scheduling gods having arranged three consecutive Royals-Rockets games, with less than one month remaining in the regular season, it would be coaching negligence not to use the rare alignment as some sort of dress rehearsal. Or staredown.
Royals bench boss Dave Lowry, defending WHL coach of the year and assistant coach of the 2015 world junior champion Canadian team, is too astute to let an opportunity like this pass without playing up the angle. With only 12 games remaining in the regular season, the playoffs are becoming more than just a hazy notion.
So consider this a best-of-three practice round. After the clubs split over the weekend at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, with Kelowna winning 3-2 and Victoria 5-2, the rubber match goes tonight in the Okanagan at Prospera Place.
“The playoffs are right around the corner and we have to be thinking in those terms,” said Victoria defenceman Chaz Reddekopp, a native of West Kelowna, who will have his usual Royals cheering section on hand tonight.
Reddekopp and the rest of the Royals defence was able to shut down Kelowna’s dangerous trio of forwards Nick Merkley, Rourke Chartier and Tyson Baillie over the weekend in Victoria. But not so against Kelowna forward Leon Draisaitl, the native of Cologne, Germany, who seems an oversized force in junior hockey after starting the season with 37 games in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers. Draisaitl appeared like a man against boys — he plays bigger than his six-foot-one frame — as he scored the winner in the last minute on a three-point night in the 3-2 victory Friday in Victoria. He added a power-play goal in Victoria’s 5-2 win the following night to push his totals to 11 goals and 34 points in 20 games with Kelowna.
“[Draisaitl] is definitely dangerous out there and you have to keep your head on a swivel against him and and follow through and finish your checks on him,” said Reddekopp, who is usually paired against the opponents’ top line.
“And it’s critical for us to stay out of the penalty box,” added, Reddekopp, tagged by Central Scouting for the latter rounds of the 2015 NHL draft.
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Kelowna leads the eight-game season series against Victoria 4-2. It concludes back in Kelowna on March 11.
“The Rockets are a well-rounded group. We have to get into a playoff mindset right now and learn how to win in their building,” said Victoria forward/defenceman Jack Walker, who has been a handy player for the Royals.
These teams feature dynamic, puck-moving defences. Joe Hicketts of the Royals and Josh Morrissey and Madison Bowey of the Rockets were teammates on the gold-medallist Canadian team in the 2015 world junior championship, while Travis Brown of Victoria can also light it up.
“There is a lot of offensive talent on the bluelines of these two teams — but these guys can also all hold the defensive zone,” said Brown, third in WHL scoring for defencemen with 53 points, two behind co-leaders Hicketts and Travis Sanheim of the Calgary Hitmen.
The Royals continue on the road Friday night in Kamloops before returning home for a two-game set Monday and Tuesday against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
