GAME DAY: RUSSIA VS. WHL
7 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre
TV: Sportsnet One
You want to draw the fortitude and steely drive out of a Lowry?
Just tell them they can't do or be something.
Victoria Royals head coach Dave Lowry will be on the bench as assistant coach and son Adam Lowry will be captain of the Western Hockey League all-stars for tonight's sold-out encounter at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the Russian junior all-stars that closes out the 2012 Subway Super Series.
"My family was in an environment where we lived it every day," said Dave Lowry, about his 19-year NHL career.
"When the boys [Adam and Joel Lowry] were older, I was in and out of the line-up and not playing every night. They saw that adversity and how I handled it. You get kicked but you dust yourself off and get back up again."
Which is exactly what Adam Lowry did when he was cut from his Midget A team.
"He used that as motivation to make the WHL," said Dave Lowry.
"He's very driven in what he wants to do and where he wants to go. He's always been a very competitive guy."
So has brother Joel Lowry, who was told he wasn't good enough to play in the WHL. Joel set off on a quest to prove his detractors wrong. He came to play in the B.C. Hockey League for the Victoria Grizzlies for two strong seasons - grew to six-foot-two and got himself selected in the fifth round of the 2011 NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings while brother Adam went that same year to the Winnipeg Jets in the third round - and is now in his sophomore season in the NCAA with Cornell.
It's become quite evident you don't tell a Lowry they can't get there from here. Neither Adam nor Joel were "elite" players, said Dave Lowry, adding: "But they made strides because they were always very dedicated and very passionate about what they did."
So much so that six-foot-five, 202-pound winger Adam will take on the captainship tonight for the WHL in the pivotal final game of the Super Series, reprising his role in club play with the Swift Current Broncos.
"I'm pretty excited. It's the first opportunity for me to be coached by my dad since Peewee," said Adam Lowry, before playing in Wednesday night's Super Series win in Vancouver against the Russians.
"From a young age, we learned how professionals prepared by watching my dad and his teammates," added Adam, who has 10 goals and 26 points in 23 games this season for the Broncos.
"Joel and I would hang around [dad's NHL] practices and go on the ice afterwards. We were always pushing each other harder and harder to be better."
On Dec. 8, the Royals will take on the Broncos in a WHL league game with dad and son on opposite benches in the Memorial Centre.
"It'll be tough on my mom. But that's the second game I circled on my calendar after the season opener," said Adam Lowry.
But tonight, father and son will share the home team bench.
"This is an opportunity that doesn't happen very often," said Dave Lowry.
"I going to enjoy the experience."
Meanwhile, playing for the WHL tonight on his home rink will be Royals forward Steven Hodges, the 2012 third-round Florida Panthers draft pick, who has five goals and 10 points in 12 games on the season.
"It's an honour to be with all these top-end WHL players," said Hodges, who skated with the WHL team in practice sessions this week in Vancouver but who did not play in Wednesday's Super Series game at the Pacific Coliseum.
"You battle these guys all year and suddenly you're on the same line with them. But you put all that aside because now you are teammates."
Hodges, a go-to offensive player for the Royals, will likely be looking at fourth-line duty tonight with penalty-killing responsibilities.
"You're put into a different role on an all-star team such as this and you do what is asked of you," he said.
"But it's going to be a sold-out barn and I'm feeling pretty excited."
There is still something about Canadians playing Russians that manages to conjure magic in the hockey imagination, even among those too young to remember some of the halcyon battles.
"We all imagine what those series of the 1970s were like," said Adam Lowry. "It's always interesting to see what skill sets the Russians bring to the table." [email protected]
> WHL grabs upper hand in Vancouver, B3
