There is a saying about how you can never be too rich or too thin.
But you can be too thin on the bench in hockey and the Victoria Royals just got thinner ahead of tonight鈥檚 game against the Vancouver Giants at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Forward Tim Traber was handed a six-game suspension and defenceman Keegan Kanzig a two-game suspension by the Western Hockey League for actions in a 6-0 loss Tuesday in Kamloops. The pair sat out their first games Wednesday in a 4-3 shootout loss at Kelowna.
Kanzig is eligible to return Saturday when the Royals play the Giants in Vancouver. Traber can鈥檛 return until the final game of the regular season.
Royals head coach Dave Lowry was suspended one game for 鈥渃onduct of the club [in Kamloops],鈥� which he served Wednesday in Kelowna.
In booking Traber, the WHL explained: 鈥淒uring a stoppage in play, [he] entered the ice on a line change and then initiated a one-man fight with an opponent [Kale Kessy of Kamloops].鈥�
Kanzig was cited for a 鈥渙ne man fight.鈥�
The Royals were also fined $1,500.
鈥淲e respect and accept the league鈥檚 decision,鈥� said Royals GM Cam Hope.
The Royals were already missing six forwards Thursday 鈥� including leading-scorer Alex Gogolev and Buffalo Sabres draft-pick Logan Nelson 鈥� to injury or illness and also captain and blueliner Tyler Stahl.
The situation isn鈥檛 expected to ease this weekend.
The Royals filled in the roster during the Interior swing with 15-year-old 2012 bantam draft-picks Chaz Reddekopp and Matthew Campese and may have to again. Once their own midget teams have been eliminated, 15-year-olds can be called up permanently for the remainder of the WHL regular season and playoffs.
鈥淚t is something we are definitely looking at,鈥� said Hope, citing Reddekopp, Campese, Tyler Soy and Regan Nagy.
鈥淲e may have six or seven guys still out this weekend,鈥� said Hope.
The Giants have officially been eliminated from the playoffs. The Royals will finish sixth in the Western Conference and meet the third seed in the first round 鈥� either the Blazers or Rockets.
The Royals are guaranteed to impact the team record book tonight. In victory, they would tie the franchise record for most wins in a season at 33 with 2010-11 when the team was in Chilliwack. If the Royals were to lose, they would set a more dubious franchise standard with 12 games without a win, breaking the record of 11, from 2006-07 in Chilliwack and the team鈥檚 current 0-8-3 streak.
