GAME DAY: VICTORIA AT KAMLOOPS, 7 P.M.
With training camp coming to an official close, Victoria Royals staff are anxious to get the show on the road, starting tonight in Kamloops against the Blazers.
The Royals enter preseason Western Hockey League play after closing down camp with Team White's 5-2 victory over Team Black in the annual intrasquad game at SaveOn-Foods Memorial Centre on Wednesday night.
But the bullets start flying for good as of tonight, and not a moment too soon for some.
"They'll be made aware that it's for real," stressed Royals head coach Dave Lowry. "Some of these guys are in a battle for a position and it's good to see another team so that they can go out there and play."
Play with passion, aggression and within one's personal limitations.
"I want to see them play to their strengths," Lowry replied when asked what exactly he was looking for from here on in. "I think they all know what type of players they are and I want to see them play to their strengths. I want to see them compete and I want to see them work."
Royals general manager Cam Hope is just as anxious to witness his troops in action against WHL opposition, beginning tonight at 7 in Kamloops and again on Friday at 7 p.m. as the host team in Maple Ridge against the same Blazers.
"Two things," Hope said of what he was looking for. "One is, I want to see the intensity level come up. It has. It does automatically.
"They are looking each other in the eye now and realizing they are fighting with each other for jobs. That's why the intensity will come up automatically.
"But what I also want to see now is guys separate themselves from guys they are fighting for jobs with. Each player has to do it a different way. If he's a physical player he has to be physical. If he's a fast, smart player he has to show us what he can do with the guys we put him up against."
In the intrasquad game, played before roughly 800 fans, the two saw Team White's Mitch Deacon swat in a loose puck just six seconds in, the first of two goals on the night for the Alberta Junior Hockey League product who played in Lloydminster. Logan Nelson, Taro Hirose and Clay Tait also scored for the victors.
Kade Pilton and Brandon Fushimi (on the nicest goal of the night off a super feed from Austin Carroll) replied for Team Black.
"I'm not going to single any of these guys out right now," Lowry said when asked if anyone caught his eye. "I want them to have to continue to perform."
Up until now, youth had been served for the Royals who had a number of promising youngsters serve notice that they are very much a part of the team's future, starting with recent draft picks Tyler Soy, Chaz Reddekopp, Regan Nagy and Matthew Campese.
"I think the thing I was most surprised about was how ready they were to play," said Hope. "Even the really young guys. The 15-and 16-year-olds, they were ready, preparing all summer for this and they hit the ground running, or the ice skating."
