Dante Hannoun and Matthew Phillips were the inseparable prototype undersized forwards for the Victoria Royals.
But while Phillips, now in the American Hockey League with Stockton, was drafted and signed by his hometown Calgary Flames, Hannoun has so far been overlooked by the pros.
But the 20-year-old forward from Delta again showed his integral value to the Royals by being named Western Hockey League player of the week for his three goals and nine points in four games as Victoria (16-13-1) closed out its pre-Christmas account by going 3-1 against the Vancouver Giants, Prince George Cougars and in two games against the Portland Winterhawks.
“We finished this portion strongly and I thought the last couple of games were our best games of the season,” said Hannoun.
Because he is best known for his distributive set-up skills on offence, with 92 goals and 240 regular-season points in his five seasons with Victoria, people tend to overlook what an effective two-way player Hannoun has been despite his five-foot-six, 160-pound frame.
Case-in-point was Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre when Hannoun blocked a shot and then chased after the puck to score an empty-net goal in the 4-2 upset of the B.C. Division-leading and CHL No. 6-ranked Vancouver Giants.
That he was even out there in that defensive situation says a lot.
“That chain of events was a great metaphor for how Dante plays the game,” said Royals head coach Dan Price.
That’s the way Price expects his players to perform, as did former Victoria bench boss Dave Lowry before him. That was highlighted in Game 7 of the first-round playoffs last spring when the diminutive but plucky Phillips hurled himself at the puck to block the Giants’ last-chance shot.
“Hockey is a two-way game and you can’t only play the offensive part of it,” said Hannoun, who leads Victoria in scoring this season with 28 points, including 13 goals, in 24 games.
“It always starts in the defensive zone.”
The Royals now have a decision to make by the Jan. 10 WHL trade deadline. CHL teams have three choices this time of year — to buy to make a playoff run, sell to stock up for the future or stand pat. The Royals were buyers last season, looking for a run, and dealing younger or future assets to acquire veteran forwards Tanner Kaspick, Noah Gregor and Lane Zablocki.
Victoria won’t do that two years in a row. The Royals’ situation this season is indicating either a sell-off to build for the future or a hold-tight attitude hoping for the best this season with what they have. The question remains: Is there a WHL team on the verge, but that feels it is one talented veteran forward away from making a serious run this spring? And what future prospects and high bantam draft picks is that team willing to give up to acquire that player?
“It’s that time of year, and obviously, it’s in the back of your mind,” said Hannoun.
“But you can’t dwell on it. Anything can happen. Whatever happens, happens. I am just going to enjoy Christmas with my family in Van.”
Hannoun, meanwhile, said he is undecided about next season but is leaning more toward turning pro rather than using his five seasons of paid eligibility in U Sports university hockey right away.
“I’ll wait and see if anything happens [in terms of a pro contract] . . . maybe Europe,” he said.
Hannoun’s achievement is the ninth time, since the franchise came to the Island in 2011-12, that a Royals player has been named WHL player of the week and follows Tyler Soy’s three citations, Alex Forsberg, Brandon Magee, Travis Brown, Joe Hicketts and Alex Gogolev.
The Royals, meanwhile, now clear out the Memorial Centre for the 2019 IIHF world junior tournament and begin a six-game Alberta road swing beginning Dec. 28 in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes.
Price, who will spend part of the break surfing in Tofino, reflected on the Royals’ pre-Christmas portion of the schedule.
“We got traction early [7-0 start] before injuries caused some fluctuations,” he said.
