That 7 a.m. ferry to launch the start of a long, pivotal road trip to Prince George came awfully early Thursday for the Victoria Royals, on the heels of their impressive 6-2 win over Tri-City on Wednesday night.
Two points up on the Cougars in second place in the West, but having played two more games, the Royals will be a tired lot when head coach Dave Lowry meets them in the northern city for games tonight and tomorrow.
鈥淲e talked to the team, that this is part of the grind,鈥� said assistant coach Enio Sacilotto, who ran the bench with Lowry away at the world junior championship. 鈥淚f you want to be a good athlete, you have to accept it. You can鈥檛 use it as an excuse. You have to figure out a way to get through it and give your best every night.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the challenge for these young guys. It鈥檚 a very important weekend,鈥� added Sacilotto.
Not only will Lowry be back from leading Team sa国际传媒, but captain Joe Hicketts and head equipment manager Matt Auerbach will all be together again after their national stints.
鈥淭hese are two really important games. We know where Prince George is in the standings. It will be hard series, but we鈥檙e getting reinforcements back with Dave, Matty and Joe, so that will help a lot,鈥� said Alex Forsberg, a former Cougar, who scored a natural hat trick in Wednesday鈥檚 win, the last three goals.
His first goal was a delightful dangle around a Tri-City defenceman, finished by a wicked snap shot that beat goalie Nicholas Sanders high, glove side. His next two were tap-ins on power plays as Victoria went 2-for-4 on the man advantage.
Tyler Soy, with a goal and two assists, also stretched his point streak to seven games.
The Royals will need those types of numbers to try to extend their lead in the standings on the Cougars this weekend.
Sunday is also the Western Hockey League trade deadline and there was a stir in the press box Wednesday night when Sacilotto decided to start rookie netminder Griffen Outhouse for the second straight night in lieu of 20-year-old Coleman Vollrath.
鈥淲e just wanted to give Coleman a bit of a rest. I probably should have got Griffen in one of those five games in seven nights,鈥� said Sacilotto, referring to the previous week鈥檚 hectic schedule. 鈥淲e just gave Coleman a chance to settle a bit and the big weekend is coming up.鈥�
The same went for Hicketts, who was at the rink, but caught up on rest.
鈥淭here was jet lag there. He played a lot of hockey in the last few weeks with the [world junior] tournament. With the big weekend coming up, we thought we would give him a little rest, too,鈥� said Sacilotto.
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