The defence rests its case.
The Victoria Royals will face two of the best blue-liners in the Western Hockey League tonight in Tri-City and Saturday in Everett as they swing through Washington state for games against the Americans and Silvertips.
Noah Juulsen of the Silvertips was named captain Thursday and Parker Wotherspoon of the Americans assistant captain of the WHL all-star team that will play the Russian junior selects Nov. 7 in Prince George and Nov. 8 in Edmonton.
鈥淲hen you are on the Hockey sa国际传媒 radar like that, it means you are one of the elite players,鈥� noted Royals head Dave Lowry, of the problems presented by Juulsen and Wotherspoon.
Joining the blue-line pair on the WHL team for the series against the Russians, which is part of the process of selecting the Canadian team for the 2017 world junior championship beginning on Boxing Day in Montreal and Toronto, will be Royals forward Tyler Soy.
Neither Soy nor the rest of the Royals need to be reminded of what Juulsen can do. The native of Abbotsford, and first-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, scored twice for Everett (10-2-2) in a 3-1 victory over Victoria last weekend at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
But first up tonight in Kennewick are Wotherspoon and the Americans (8-6-1 after Thursday鈥檚 4-2 loss to Everett) in the first meeting of the season between Tri-City and Victoria.
Surrey-born Wotherspoon is a fourth-round draft pick of the New York Islanders and the mainstay of a Tri-City defence that is highly mobile and forward attacking. That is attested by Wotherspoon鈥檚 four goals and 10 assists for 14 points, and six-foot-three Nanaimo-product blue-liner Dylan Coghlan鈥檚 two goals and seven assists for nine points.
But the Tri-City defence can be exploited and has allowed a high number of goals at 51 for the worst goals-against percentage in the Western Conference.
鈥淲e want to advance the puck, and generate enough offence to give ourselves a chance, but we don鈥檛 want to trade chances with them,鈥� said Lowry, noting the latter would be self-defeating.
鈥淲e want to play on the right side of the puck and win battles.鈥�
Even without injured forward Jordan Topping from Salt Spring Island, who had 33 goals and 67 points last season, the Americans haven鈥檛 lost a step on offence with projected first-round 2017 NHL draft pick Michael Rasmussen from Surrey leading the WHL with 11 goals.
The Royals are off to a middling start at 8-7.
鈥淲e are a team that needs to have all four lines executing. Too many nights, we have not been getting that play,鈥� said Lowry.
The Royals are a credible 5-3-1 on the road, but it can at times be difficult and intimidating playing in U.S. Division arenas.
鈥淏oth [Tri City and Everett] have loud rinks and play extremely well at home,鈥� added Lowry.
