It is said familiarity breeds contempt. If so, the Victoria Royals and Prince George Cougars will have their fill of it when they meet six consecutive times between Oct. 16-27 in the rejigged Western Hockey League schedule announced Wednesday.
“It will be like a mini-playoff series between us and the Cougars,” said Royals head coach and GM Dan Price, of the four games in Prince George and two in Victoria.
The schedule had to be reworked because there is no guarantee the Canada-U.S. border will be open for non-essential travel by the start of the WHL season on Oct. 1. The original plan was to have the Western Conference, which includes the B.C. Division and U.S. Division, play interlocking games. B.C. Division teams will now only play each other, the same for the U.S. Division teams, for the month of October. Inter-division competition between the B.C. and U.S. divisions is scheduled to start Nov. 3. Victoria’s first game against a U.S. Division opponent will be Nov. 12-13 when the Spokane Chiefs come to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
“This doesn’t change our preparation for the season,” said Price. “The game density will still be the same. What it does is creates fierce rivalries against our B.C. opponents, which we like.”
The B.C. teams are used to that following the abbreviated 2021 divisional bubble season held in Kelowna and Kamloops.
“What the past year-and-a-half of changes has taught us is that you have to be very nimble and very flexible and ready for anything,” said Price.
That was again evident as the Royals’ preseason opener, scheduled for Sept. 15 in Kamloops, has been cancelled due to health restrictions in the Interior. The Royals’ exhibition games Sept. 17-18 in Kelowna against the Rockets, and Sept. 25 at the Memorial Centre against the Cougars, are still on.
The Royals’ regular-season opener is unchanged and will be on Oct. 2 at the Memorial Centre against the Vancouver Giants.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
