Victoria Royals head coach and GM Dan Price likened the lengthy Western Hockey League set against the Prince George Cougars to a playoff series. If that’s the comparison, the Royals would have already been swept 4-0 in a best-of-seven.
The final contest of the unusual five-game series is tonight at CN Centre in Prince George. It was originally scheduled as six-consecutive games between the Royals and Cougars before Tuesday night’s game was postponed to Jan. 18 due to the Victoria club not being able to make it off the Island in time because of Monday’s weather-related ferry cancellations.
The planned six-game scheme was necessitated by the Canada-U.S. border being closed to start the WHL regular season which in turn caused a quick re-jigging of the schedule to front-load games between B.C. Division opponents.
The Royals are 1-8 overall on the season and the Cougars 4-3, with all their victories coming in the last four games against Victoria The last was Prince George’s 4-1 victory over the Royals on Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre as the Cougars continued their Royal feast.
Most of the game stats were competitive, noted Price.
“The metrics [from puck possession to puck battles won] were even, but we didn’t do a good job of capitalizing,” he said.
The Royals introduced three recent 19-year-old WHL veteran trade acquisitions in the game — goaltender Campbell Arnold, six-foot-six defenceman Anson McMaster and forward Caleb Willms.
Nanaimo-native Arnold made a notable Island homecoming in being named second star of the game for his effort in the crease. He was the Spokane Chiefs’ 2017 WHL first-round bantam draft pick, which is the territory that often produces future pros. It’s because of that potential the price to acquire Arnold, with Victoria’s third-round selection in the 2023 WHL draft going to Spokane, was fairly high.
“He was solid in Spokane and brings a very professional approach to the game and is a huge addition for us,” said Price.
A knee injury in 2019-20, followed by surgery, hampered Arnold’s progress in Spokane. A fresh start on his home Island may be just the career reboot Arnold needs. A plus is that he is eligible to return next season as a 20-year-old, as are also McMaster and Willms.
“The new players are all quickly jelling with our existing group and have been welcomed,” said Price.
“This is a team with no cliques.”
Another recent addition is 20-year-old defenceman Neithan Salame, acquired last week by the Royals from the Brandon Wheat Kings for a fifth-round pick in the 2022 WHL draft and a sixth-rounder in 2023, who has yet to suit up for Victoria due to injury. Price said Salame remains day-to-day.
In a quirk in Saturday’s game, Victoria was not assessed a penalty for only the second time since the Royals came to the Island in 2011-12. The only other occasion that has happened was in the Royals’ Game 7 victory over the Vancouver Giants in the first round of the 2018 playoffs.
Following tonight’s game in Prince George, the Royals will travel down to Kamloops to meet the Blazers (6-1) on Friday night and to Kelowna to take on the Rockets (2-2) on Saturday before hosting Kamloops Nov. 5-6 at the Memorial Centre.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
