Victoria Royals fans sat through 120 minutes of scoreless hockey by their team in respective back-to-back 8-0 and 7-0 Western Hockey League losses to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday and Monday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. It doesn’t get much worse than that at home.
So Royals head coach and GM Dan Price raised some eyebrows with his comments after the second game of the three-game sweep by the powerhouse Thunderbirds, which included an 8-1 Thunderbirds victory Saturday in Kent, Washington, as the T-Birds outscored the Royals 23-1 over the trey of contests. It was 26-1 in the overall four-game season set.
“It’s a great team,” allowed Price of the Thunderbirds (43-9-2).
He then added: “Seattle has a lot of pro prospects. We do too. The question is do you really want to eventually try to compete and win and overcome those same players two or three years from now when you see them as pros or do you want to do it now? That’s the mentality.”
Some might consider that an overly-optimistic appraisal of Victoria’s roster strength compared to Seattle’s. The Thunderbirds’ talent and depth is undeniable with 10 NHL draft picks, including five first-rounders, and another five players ranked for this year’s NHL draft. The Royals (15-36-6) have one NHL-signed player, captain Gannon Laroque, who has only played four games this season, and blueliner Kalem Parker as the lone player ranked for this year’s NHL draft. It hardly seems even remotely comparable. Anything can happen, of course, and you can never discount later-stage player development. But at this point, it’s fair to say the Royals look to have more future U Sports players than future NHLers or even AHLers or ECHLers.
Victoria tried hard but that isn’t enough when the talent gulf is so wide against Seattle, ranked No. 3 in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll. The final regular-season meeting between the clubs Tuesday followed a familiar script as Seattle jumped to 3-0 and 5-0 period leads. Nico Myatovic scored a hat-trick and Brad Lambert twice for the Thunderbirds. Blueliner and former Prince Albert Raiders captain Nolan Allan, a first-round NHL draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks, had a goal and three assists for Seattle.
Goaltender Thomas Milic, who backstopped sa国际传媒 to the 2023 world junior championship gold medal in Halifax and who has recorded shutouts in both his starts against Victoria this season, was given the night off. Scott Ratzlaff, ranked for the 2023 NHL draft and who also played the 8-1 victory Saturday against Victoria, made 21 saves Tuesday for the shutout. Royals goaltender Braden Holt made 33 saves.
Milic and Allan were among the four Thunderbirds players who won gold medals with sa国际传媒 in the 2023 world junior championship tournament in Halifax, along with former Kelowna Rockets captain and Blackhawks NHL-prospect Colton Dach and Dylan Guenther, the latter sent down to junior from the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL after the Thunderbirds secured his WHL rights from the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“On paper, this is one of the best teams ever in this league,” said T-Birds defenceman and NHL-signed Nashville Predators-prospect Luke Prokop.
“But it’s important not to take anything for granted.”
With their unrelenting approach even against the lowly Royals, that doesn’t seem to be an issue for Seattle, which has sacrificed a bit of its immediate future in terms of WHL prospects draft picks, to go all-in this season with the acquisitions of Allan, Dach and Guenther.
The Thunderbirds clearly do not want to squander the remaining regular-season opportunities to jell and build comradery heading into the playoffs. It’s a post-season the Royals are unlikely to see. Victoria, with only 11 games remaining, are seven points behind Kelowna in the battle for the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference with the Rockets holding four games in hand. The walls are closing in rapidly on Victoria.
The Royals host the Prince George Cougars on Saturday and Everett Silvertips on Sunday at the Memorial Centre.
