He has exhausted headline writers during his career with every twist on “Everything Just Peachy” to “Peach of a Game.”
Now Bailey Peach from Falmouth, N.S., has taken his act from the East Coast to the West Coast and leads the Victoria Royals in scoring heading into the weekend Western Hockey League set tonight and Saturday against the Tri-City Americans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
It’s a sort of tradition, most famously exemplified by Colorado Avalanche rookie forward Alex Newhook’s rock-to-rock move from St. John’s, N.L., to the Island to star for the Victoria Grizzlies of the sa国际传媒 Hockey League before being selected in the first round of the 2019 NHL draft and winning silver with sa国际传媒 at the world junior championship last January.
In an earlier generation, Fabian Joseph and Jack MacKeigan came out from Sydney, N.S., to star in the WHL for the Victoria Cougars in the early 1980s and they also made impacts with Joseph recording 90-point and 127-point seasons and MacKeigan concluding his two-year Cougars tenure with a 112-point season. The fleet-footed Joseph won two Winter Olympics silver medals in the 1990s with sa国际传媒 at Albertville and Lillehammer.
Peach may not get to that level but he has certainly been a major storyline this season for the Royals, taking advantage of recent changes in Canadian Hockey League rules allowing for easier transfer in major-junior between the WHL and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League.
Peach played four seasons in the QMJHL with the Sherbrooke Phoenix and Charlottetown Islanders before the 5,000-plus kilometre move across the country to close out his junior career with the Royals.
“Once I cleared waivers in the Q, I looked at the OHL and WHL,” said Peach, who has nine goals and 25 points in 24 games with Victoria.
“The move was a big change for me and I’ve just been trying to keep things simple.”
That proved a good approach in adjusting to a different mode of play: “I found the QMJHL players were more skilled but smaller. The WHL is faster with more hitting. It’s totally different This has been a big step in my development.”
Peach is committed to the Acadia Axemen of U Sports next season in Wolfville, N.S., but is holding out hopes of landing a pro contract. His season in Victoria may just get him one.
“I would take an AHL, ECHL or European contract for sure,” he said.
“U Sports would be good, as well.”
The latter would be paid for as CHL players receive a free year of post-secondary education for every season played in major-junior.
Peach is adjusting to life on this coast and is not among those with hang ups about the recent weather.
“You can’t complain about coming to hockey practice in a hoodie,” he said.
As one of the Royals’ three-allowable 20-year-olds, it is expected of Peach to take a leadership role in the dressing room.
“I was a young player once and the older guys were there for me,” he said.
“I learned leadership from them. Now it’s my turn to help the younger guys out. I feel I’m fortunate to be in a position to help out like that.”
The 3-0 loss Wednesday night in Kamloops — the Royals’ first in regulation time since Nov. 6 — ended a run in which Victoria had earned points in 10 consecutive games, with seven victories in that stretch.
“Now we know we can compete with any teams in this league,” said Peach.
The Royals, however, are heavily dinged with injuries in what has become the second wave following the early season with a similar short bench. Among those recently downed were captain Tarun Fizer, forward Tanner Scott and defenceman Anson McMaster. Forwards Keanu Derungs and Marcus Almquist are away on junior national team duty with Switzerland and Denmark, respectively. As well, Wyatt Wilson was assessed a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct Wednesday in Kamloops.
“Even with our good run of late, we were only at 75 percent roster strength,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price.
“I can’t wait to see us at 100 percent.”
But the season doesn’t wait for teams to heal. Points won or lost now will loom large later. The weekend set between the Royals (8-12-4) and Tri-City (7-13-3) – with tonight the annual Teddy Bear Toss night — is important as the Americans are among the teams Victoria must target in the race for the bottom-rung playoff berths in the WHL Western Conference come March.
