The Victoria Royals are fully in next-man-up mode and, with the exception of seven or eight early minutes to get rid of the turkey legs Monday night against the Vancouver Giants, the “next men” are just fine, thank you very much.
Missing 12 players to injuries, suspensions or world junior tournaments, the Royals still managed to scrape out a 3-1 victory over the Giants at the Langley Events Centre.
And while there’s a little bit of help on the way, GM and head coach Dan Price is expecting another tight battle when the Royals (10-13-4-0) and Giants (14-14-1-0) switch to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for back-to-back games starting tonight.
“We always seem to have tight games with the Giants and they were missing several players as well on Monday so it was a grind for both teams and we were fortunate to come away with the victory.
“We obviously took a little while to find our legs after the Christmas break, I think they were up 12-1 in shots at one point thanks to a couple power plays, but once we settle down our puck possession and breakouts became much smoother and we were OK after that.”
The Royals will still be without Keanu Derungs, who is with Team Switzerland at the world junior championship in Edmonton, and Marcus Almquist, who is with Denmark at the Div. 1 world junior tournament, when they hit the ice tonight. But also missing again will be injured captain Tarun Fizer and forward Evan Patrician.
The good news for Victoria is Wyatt Wilson will return from a three-game suspension and forward Tanner Scott will be back after missing a few games with an injury.
“We do get a couple bodies back, which will help, but our young guys have really stepped up in a tough situation and I expect them to do that again this week,” said Price, whose club is 7-2-1-0 in its past 10 games.
The Giants, who have struggled to a 3-7 record in their last 10 games, don’t have the injury problems the Royals do, but Vancouver is missing several of its best players to the world juniors.
Giants captain Justin Sourdif is with Team sa国际传媒 having missed Tuesday’s game against Austria due to a one-game suspension for a check to the head, and Boston Bruins first-round draft pick Fabian Lysell and Vegas Golden Knights fifth-round pick, netminder Jesper Vikman, are both with Team Sweden.
The two teams will have to play tonight’s and Thursday’s games in a half-full arena as well, since the latest provincial health orders are keeping large arenas to 50 per cent capacity, which for the Memorial Centre is 3,503.
“Obviouslly, our players would rather be playing in front of a large home crowd, it gives them an extra boost and provides a lot of energy in the building, but they also know there are are bigger things happening in the world right now than hockey, so we’ll just be patient and hopefully be playing in front of a full building sooner rather than later,” said Price.
LOOSE PUCKS: Sixteen-year-old call-ups Nate Misskey (Edge Hockey Academy U-18) and Justin Kipkie (Prince Albert Mintos U-18) accompanied the Royals back to Victoria on Monday and will likely draw in again tonight… . After the pair with the Giants, the Royals hit the road for three games beginning Saturday afternoon in Kelowna against the Rockets.
