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Price is right: Victoria Royals win on day coach gets new contract

Some Tuesdays are just better than others. It was a banner one, on and off the ice, for Victoria Royals head coach Dan Price. He inked a multi-season contract extension before his Royals cooled down the torrid Spokane Chiefs in a 5-4 WHL victory.
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Dan Price has the Royals off to a 17-10-2 mark this season.

Some Tuesdays are just better than others. It was a banner one, on and off the ice, for Victoria Royals head coach Dan Price. He inked a multi-season contract extension before his Royals cooled down the torrid Spokane Chiefs in a 5-4 WHL victory.

The Royals (17-10-2) scored three consecutive goals in the third period at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre through Carson Miller’s second power-play goal of the night, Keanu Derungs and Brandon Cutler to overcome a 3-2 Spokane lead after two periods.

Victoria got two first-period goals by Miller on the power play and Gary Haden, who added an assist to run his streak to nine goals and 13 points in the last nine games.

The Chiefs (18-10-4) are one of the hottest teams in the league and have lost only twice in regulation time in a 7-2-2 run. They were led by Adam Beckman’s 21st and 22nd goals of the season as the Minnesota Wild draft pick has eight goals and 11 points in four games.

Campbell Arnold of Nanaimo, a product of the Shawnigan Lake Hockey Academy who has carried the load this season in goal for Spokane, made 30 saves.

Brock Gould, who this week was selected as one of four goaltenders for the CHL Top Prospects Game next month in Hamilton ahead of next summer’s 2020 NHL draft, blocked 31 shots for Victoria.

In a true hockey anomaly, Victoria recorded its third no-penalty game of the season and second consecutive against Spokane. The Royals had only one previous such game in franchise history before this season.

Both teams were missing key players to international play with Royals captain Phillip Schultz with Denmark at the recent IIHF second-tier world junior tournament in Belarus and first-round New Jersey Devils draft pick Ty Smith of the Chiefs with Canada at the IIHF top-tier world junior championship beginning Boxing Day in the Czech Republic.

Price, meanwhile, is in his third season, which is his option year that was exercised, following his original two-season contract. Terms and length of the extension were not disclosed.

“It was an easy extension to do because we are on the same page,” said Royals GM Cameron Hope.

“Dan has done a great job and has made my job easier. He understands the players we bring into our system and how to get the best out of them. What a GM wants in his head coach is the same basic ethic. Dan understands that ethic and so I can leave him alone to coach. I trust his coaching implicitly. And he has made it clear he wants to be here.”

With the fading world of so-called ‘old-school’ coaching culture dominating much of the discussion this season in hockey, Price is decidedly new-school in approach.

“Dan’s [methods are] ahead of the curve in coaching in this sport,” said Hope.

The 45-year-old Price, a native of Alberta, has accumulated an 89-67-12 regular-season record in his nearly two and one-half seasons as Royals bench boss. Victoria has advanced to the second round of the playoffs in each of his two seasons as head coach.

“I’m grateful to Cam Hope and [Royals team owner] Graham Lee for continuing to have the opportunity to have one of the best jobs in hockey in a great community,” said Price, a Tofino surfer in summer, whose mother lives in Qualicum Beach.

“There is such a great staff assembled here. For us, it’s all about the players.”

ICE CHIPS: The Royals meet the Chiefs again tonight on Blanshard in their last game before the Christmas break … Royals forward River Fahey of Campbell River has been reassigned to Junior A.