Victoria Royals’ 2018-19 most valuable player, goaltender Griffen Outhouse, was asked if he had a preference in tonight’s Western Hockey League play-in game between the Kamloops Blazers and Kelowna Rockets.
“Only that it goes into five or six overtime periods,” he quipped.
The Rockets and Blazers, who tied for third place in the B.C. Division, play tonight in Kamloops to decide who will advance to meet the division second-place Royals in the first round of the playoffs beginning Friday and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The loser of tonight’s game will be eliminated. Kamloops is looking for a return to the post-season dance after sitting out last year. Kelowna has only missed the playoffs once in the 24 seasons the team has been operating in the Okanagan.
It will be only the seventh play-in game in the WHL since 1980-81. The league is offering the game free via streaming at 7 p.m. on WHL Live.
Whoever advances between the Blazers and Rockets will meet a well-rested Victoria team, which clinched early, and has had the luxury of sitting out a plethora of players during its meaningless stretch drive to conserve energy and let injuries heal.
The Blazers and Rockets, meanwhile, have been on playoff footing over the last month, with every point precious.
Some hockey people might consider the latter an advantage for the team that emerges tonight to play Victoria. The Blazers and Rockets are already playoff-hardy, in a sense.
“I think we are going to be sharp because we are so well rested,” said Outhouse. “We hope that’s an advantage in our favour and gives us more energy.”
Case in point in the crease is Everett Silvertips goaltender Dustin Wolf, who the Royals faced in the final regular season games over the weekend. Wolf appeared in 61 of 68 games this season for Everett while Outhouse in only 46 for the Royals after carrying the load with 63 and 60 appearances, respectively, over his previous two seasons in Victoria (in which were then 72-game regular seasons).
“[Royals head coach] Dan Price is very proactive about things like that. We talked it over and I think it was a smart decision [to cut back Outhouse’s number of regular-season games],” said the 20-year-old Royals netminder, who finished his regular-season career with 114 wins to place seventh on the all-time WHL list.
“I feel sharp mentally and physically heading into the playoffs.”
The lesser number of games didn’t stop Outhouse from being named Royals team MVP with a 2.81 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.
Outhouse said last season’s Royals MVP Matthew Phillips, a Calgary Flames-prospect forward now in the AHL with Stockton, sent a congratulatory text.
Outhouse and Phillips were named team co-MVPs in 2016-17. Detroit Red Wings-prospect blue-liner Joe Hicketts was Royals’ MVP in both 2015-16 and 2014-15, and forwards Brandon Magee, Alex Gogolev and Jamie Crooks in the first three seasons the Royals played on the Island.
The Royals held their 2018-19 awards ceremony Sunday. Outhouse was also named most popular player as voted by the fans. Forward Kaid Oliver was selected the hardest worker and also took home the top scorer award with a career-high 49 points in 58 games. Scott Walford, a third-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, was named top blue-liner and also most dedicated player.
Danish import forward Phillip Schultz was selected rookie of the year, defenceman Mitchell Prowse the unsung hero, rookie goaltender Brock Gould the top scholastic player, while forward Tanner Sidaway was the recipient of the service award.
