Regina and Moose Jaw couldn鈥檛 pop into view at a better time on the Prairie horizon for the spiraling Victoria Royals.
The Royals haven鈥檛 exactly been road warriors on the longest trip of their Western Hockey League season. The Royals are 0-3-1, with only a point to show after the first four games of their once-every-two-seasons swing through the East Division of the Eastern Conference.
It鈥檚 part of an overall Victoria six-game winless slide 鈥� with five losses 鈥� after going 8-1-1 in the previous 10 games.
The Royals (25-18-4) will attempt to end their malaise tonight in Regina against the Pats and Saturday in Moose Jaw against the Warriors.
Victoria at least got the hardest portion of the swing over early. The Pats (14-26-5) and Warriors (12-30-2) are both lagging. But the way they too have been going of late, the Royals can ill afford to take any teams for granted.
鈥淲e鈥檝e talked to the other teams we鈥檝e met in the East about the Pats and Warriors and they tell us Regina and Moose Jaw both compete and work hard every night,鈥� said Royals head coach Dan Price.
The Victoria bench boss stressed his group is confident, not over-confident, looking ahead to the struggling Pats and Warriors. After all, his team has had its own woes of late. Despite the recent results, Price said his dressing room is far from dejected.
鈥淭he room is feeling good and we are confident heading into our next games,鈥� said Price.
He attributes that to the Royals being among the more experienced teams in the WHL this season: 鈥淲e have an older, mature group that is not panicked by a couple of losses.鈥�
The Royals will return from the 5,500-kilometre Prairie tire-buster to face the Kamloops Blazers in an all-sa国际传媒 Division set next Friday and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
