GAME DAY: VICTORIA AT CALGARY, 6 p.m.
Victoria Royals head coach Dave Lowry returns tonight to the city that has probably meant the most to him in his hockey career, both on the ice and on the bench.
But this is not the type of person to betray any hint of sentimentality.
"It's my first trip back into Calgary, but it's just another game," Lowry said as his Victoria Royals prepared for their Western Hockey League encounter against the Hitmen at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
"There are good friends of mine on the [Hitmen] side. But the way I treat it is that it's a big game for our team."
That it certainly is as the Royals (9-9) have gone zero-for-the-road in the first five games of their seven-game away swing, which concludes with contests tonight in Calgary and Saturday in Medicine Hat against the Tigers.
The Eastern Conference-leading Hitmen (12-4-3) have won four straight games and promise to be a handful today. This season continues a legacy of Hit-men success with which Lowry is well acquainted.
After Lowry's 19-season NHL career - which included a trip to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final with the 2004 Calgary Flames - he became assistant coach for three seasons beginning in 2004-05 with the Hitmen. Lowry stepped up to Hitmen head coach in 2008-09, leading the Calgary club to a soaring 59-9-4 record with 330 goals scored and into the WHL final.
That was followed by three seasons on the NHL bench as Flames assistant coach (the Flames also own the Hitmen) with a combined 118-90-38 record under head coach Brent Sutter before last spring's Flames housecleaning.
But tonight's story line isn't about his return to Cow Town, Lowry insisted.
He has a job to do now that doesn't concern a team representing Calgary.
"We have to find a way to win a hockey game," Lowry said of his recently reeling Royals.
"We'll continue to work hard, as we've been doing. There is such parity in the league that any team can beat any other team on any given night. We have to do the little things well.
"We've played OK, but we haven't yet played a complete game. We make critical mistakes at critical times. Earlier in the season, we were scoring enough goals to overcome that."
But not lately, as Victoria has not scored more than two goals per game during its current five-game road swoon. The Royals' 48 goals scored on the season is tied with the Vancouver Giants for the lowest total in the Western Conference.
"We've got to find a way to get more goals," Lowry said.
ICE CHIPS: The Royals return to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Nov. 16 against the Everett Silvertips and 2012 NHL No. 2 overall draft pick Ryan Murray.
