Dan Price is a lawyer who found sport more compelling.
鈥淚 enjoyed law, but really missed the competitive nature of athletics, not that law isn鈥檛 competitive. But I really felt the pull back to hockey,鈥� said the former litigator and Victoria Royals鈥� new assistant coach.
The Western Hockey League club named Price the assistant to Dave Lowry. Price replaces Enio Sacilotto, the Royals assistant coach of five seasons, who was recently promoted to director of prospect development.
Sacilotto was the Royals鈥� defensive expert on the bench.
鈥淚 will likely be more focused on the defensive side, but Dave [Lowry] is a very collaborative coach, and I am really looking forward to working with him,鈥� said Price, a surfer whose mother, Ronni, lives in Qualicum Beach.
鈥淭his is a great opportunity to work with people like [Lowry and Royals GM Cam Hope]. Not only that, but to also work with the quality of players they have assembled in Victoria. That is a high-calibre group [the Royals are the defending WHL regular-season champions].鈥�
GM Hope cited Price鈥檚 鈥渆xperience and knowledge.鈥�
A 41-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., Price was in the CIS the past two seasons as assistant coach of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.
Hope also noted Price鈥檚 鈥渇amiliarity with the WHL鈥� after his two seasons as assistant coach of the Tri City Americans from 2012-14 and three seasons as assistant coach with the Chilliwack Bruins. The latter brings Price full circle, back to the Royals franchise, which began life as the Bruins before relocating to the Island in 2011-12.
鈥淚 was there the first season in Chilliwack and some people are still around like [Royals equipment manager] Matty Auerbach and some of the scouts. It鈥檚 like coming home.鈥�
Price has scouted for the Regina Pats and also has international experience as assistant coach with silver-medallist Team Pacific at the 2009 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. He was also head coach and GM of the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League from 2009-12.
Price鈥檚 playing days were spent as a goaltender with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the sa国际传媒 Hockey League, Fort St. John Huskies of the Rocky Mountain Junior League before guarding the crease in the CIS for the University of Regina Cougars from 1995 to 1998 and graduating from its law school in 2001.
鈥淕oaltenders see the game unfold defensively and offensively and can see the puck move both ways,鈥� he said.
Price arrives on the Island to commence his duties next week.
The Royals also made some player moves Thursday, sending defenceman Jordan Wharrie, forward Tyler Thompson and the rights to forward Baron Thompson to the Brandon Wheat Kings in exchange for 17-year-old forward Jeremy Klessens and 16-year-old goaltender Brendan Benoit. The Royals also garnered a third-round 2017 bantam draft pick, seventh-round 2018 draft pick and a conditional selection in 2019.
The five-foot-10 Klessens had eight goals and 21 points in 49 games last season for the Olds Grizzlies of the AJHL while Benoit was 23-0-1 with a 2.03 goals-against average for the Eastman Selects in Manitoba Midget triple-A hockey.
Wharrie and Tyler Thompson were little-used last season by the Royals with Wharrie appearing in 34 games with two points and Thompson in eight games with three points. Baron Thompson, younger sibling of Tyler鈥檚, had four points in 26 games last season for the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL.
There was a large degree of personnel familiarity involved in this deal, especially on the Brandon side. The trade was made by Victoria鈥檚 GM Hope and the newly-installed Wheat Kings GM Grant Armstrong, the latter who was the Royals鈥� assistant GM for player personnel the past four years, before taking the Brandon posting on Aug. 23.
The Royals, meanwhile, open the WHL exhibition season tonight against the Blazers in Kamloops, followed by games Saturday in Kelowna against the Rockets, and Sunday in Everett, Washington, against the Tri-City Americans.
