GAME DAY: KAMLOOPS VS. VICTORIA
7 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre Radio: The Zone 91.3 FM / TV: None
Too bad there isn't an overage 23-year-old roster slot allowed in junior hockey. That Jamie Benn guy looked pretty good skating with the Victoria Royals in practice Thursday at Saveon-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Royals may be wishing they could use the Dallas Stars forward - who used the workout to help stay in form during the NHL lockout - in their Western Hockey League doubleheader tonight and Sunday against the vaunted 2012-13 edition of the Kamloops Blazers.
Both teams are 2-0 heading into the series at the Memorial Centre but it's the Blazers who have the No. 8 ranking in the Canadian Hockey League BMO Mastercard top-10 poll.
These clubs have an immediate history together - the Blazers swept the Royals 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs last spring to advance past the first round for the first time since 1999.
"This is a good test for our hockey club," said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
"It's a real challenge for us to play one of the best teams in the country. They are a very well coached team and very quick with some high-end skill."
The Blazers return nearly all of the high-flying forwards who made them such a nightmare for opposing defences last season, including Brendan Ranford, Tim Bozon, Colin Smith, Dylan Willick, J.C. Lipon and Matt Needham.
Kamloops, pipped in Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs by the Portland Winter Hawks last spring, has yet to lose over five pre-season and two regular-season games in 2012-13.
But this isn't the same Royals team that got swept by the Blazers in the playoffs, countered Victoria star forward Steven Hodges.
"We're very much improved this season," said the 2012 third-round draft pick of the Florida Panthers.
"And this [Memorial Centre] is a tough building for visiting teams to play in and that really helps us. We've had a good week of practice here and we're ready."
The game will be notable for rookie Royals defenceman Joe Hicketts, a native of Kamloops.
"I grew up watching [past Blazers teams] and I'm really excited to play Kamloops for the first time in the regular season," said Hicketts.
During a fallow decade for the Blazers, Hicketts' hometown club wasn't very good when he was growing up. But it is certainly on the rise now.
"I wasn't a die-hard fan watching the Blazers but I was a fan," said the 16-year-old.
And now?
"Not really," chuckled the Royals blueliner.
Meanwhile, Victoria enters the second week of the regular season still without a captain.
"In due course we will name our captain but that's not our No. 1 priority," said Lowry.
"Our priority is to select the right person."
Maybe that Benn guy out there during practice would be a good choice.
"Just watching [Benn] on the ice with us was amazing and surreal," said Hicketts.
Too bad Victoria couldn't simply plug hometown boy Benn in to counter the Blazers. The Royals will have to do that hard stuff on their own in this potentially revealing two-game set that could show if they have arrived or if they still have some ground to make up on the elites of the WHL.
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