Island fans will not see the Wenatchee Wild, the relocated Winnipeg Ice franchise, until the final games of the 2023-24 Western Hockey League regular season March 20 and March 22 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. That is one of the quirks of the WHL schedule, unveiled in its entirety Tuesday, after the home openers for each team were announced Monday.
Victoria will open the season Sept. 22 at the Langley Events Centre in the cross-strait derby against the Vancouver Giants before crossing the border to play the Everett Silvertips on Sept. 23 at Angel of the Winds Arena.
The home openers for Victoria, as previously announced, are Sept. 29-30 against the Prince George Cougars at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Royals will play the Wild in Wenatchee on Nov. 4 and Dec. 28.
The Wild situation threw a spanner in the works as the franchise move from Winnipeg to Wenatchee happened after the initial WHL schedule was completed. What really complicated the schedule revamp was that the Ice/Wild franchise moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference, which caused a wider ripple effect.
It means one less game for the Royals on their once-every-two-years road trip through the Eastern Division of the Eastern Conference, which begins Jan. 6 in Regina against the post-Connor Bedard Pats, continues in Brandon on Jan. 9, Moose Jaw on Jan. 10, Prince Albert Jan. 12 and concludes Jan. 13 in Saskatoon against the Blades.
Other compelling dates include the Oct. 14 game against the Swift Current Broncos, which will be the first time on Blanshard Street for a Central Division team since pre-pandemic in 2019. That will be followed by 2022 WHL prospects draft No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna coming through with the Medicine Hat Tigers on Oct. 17. The Royals selected Cole Reschny third overall that year, making for a match-up of touted rookies and prime prospects for the 2025 NHL draft. Hometown Victoria product Ollie Josephson, the fifth overall selection in the 2021 WHL prospects draft, comes through the Memorial Centre on Nov. 7 with the Red Deer Rebels.
“The Central Division is really strong this year and those are going to be great match-ups,” said Price.
The defending league champion Seattle Thunderbirds visit for the first time Nov. 10. The most anticipated home date, however, is the Hockey Day in sa国际传媒 game against the Kamloops Blazers on Jan. 20 with portions to be broadcast nationally on Sportsnet.
“The national exposure and special Saturday 4 p.m. start time for Eastern prime time is a really cool opportunity for our players and our organization,” said Price.
Each WHL team will play 68 games, 34 at home, between Sept. 22 and March 24. A total of 579 of the 748 league games, almost 80 per cent, will be played on weekends or holidays. The playoffs will begin March 29.
The latter is somewhere the Royals hope, indeed need, to be after missing the playoffs the last two seasons and placing last in the league in the bubble season previous to that. Although the bubble was not official, the Royals would have clearly missed the playoffs that season, and so are on a three-year dry spell.
Only four WHL teams have missed the playoffs four or more consecutive seasons — the Kootenay Ice four seasons between 2014-15 and 2018-19, Medicine Hat Tigers five seasons between 1997-98 and 2001-02, Lethbridge Hurricanes six seasons between 2009-10 and 2014-15 and the Victoria/Prince George Cougars seven seasons (five in Victoria and two in Prince George) between 1989-90 and 1995-96.
“We are in a great position to take a step forward with an older group, said Price.
ICE CHIPS: The Royals on Tuesday acquired spirited veteran forward Grady Lane from the Spokane Chiefs for an eighth-round pick in the 2025 WHL draft. The key element for the Royals isn’t Lane’s eight goals and 23 points over four seasons and 129 regular-season WHL games for the Chiefs, it’s that he was an assistant captain for Spokane last season for a reason and winner of the Players’ Player Award as voted on by his Chiefs teammates.
“Grady is pro-active in his approach and stands up for his teammates,” said Price, noting his 113 penalty minutes in 66 games last season. Lane keeps opposing teams off balance, added Price.
“With the addition of [Dallas Stars draft pick] Conner Roulette, league rules only allow teams to have three overage players, which put us in a position to have to try and find another team for Grady,” Spokane GM Matt Bardsley said in a statement.
“Grady is a tremendous teammate, leader and most importantly, a terrific person. We thank him for all he has done for the Chiefs.”
This also impacts an interesting Royals’ 20-year-old mix, which now includes Lane, NHL San Jose Sharks-signed blue-liner Gannon Laroque, goaltender Braden Holt and forward Matthew Hodson, with only three allowed to stay.
“We have a lot of good options over several different positions, with variables at play, with the biggest variable being Gannon Laroque [and whether the Sharks assign him to the pro affiliate Barracuda of the AHL or back to junior with the Royals],” said Price.
