Never look a gift-horse in the mouth is the adage. The Victoria Royals will receive an early Christmas present this weekend courtesy of Hockey sa国际传媒.
Chicago Blackhawks-prospect Colton Dach of the Kelowna Rockets and Dallas Stars-signed Logan Stankoven and Minnesota Wild-prospect Caedan Bankier of the Kamloops Blazers are among the 13 Western Hockey League players in Moncton, N.B., for the selection camp for the Canadian team to the 2023 world junior championship tournament beginning Boxing Day in Moncton, and Halifax, N.S.
The Royals are in Kelowna tonight to face the Dach-less Rockets and in Kamloops on Saturday night to play the Stankoven- and Bankier-less Blazers.
“We don’t generally factor in things like that. We just focus on our style of play, regardless [of who is or isn’t in the opposition lineup],” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price.
The Royals can point to beating the sa国际传媒 Division-leading Blazers 5-2 on Wednesday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, with both Stankoven and Bankier in the lineup, to snap an overall 12-game winless streak and a 24-game losing streak over four seasons against the Blazers.
“We have to reset to 0-0 and have the mindset of earning it again every game,” said Price.
There’s a certain urgency to that with the lowly Royals at 4-21-3. Victoria is 11 points adrift of the final playoff berth in the Western Conference, which is held by the Rockets (10-12-2), who have four games in hand on the Royals. The time is now if Victoria is to rally and save its season. Tonight can be considered a four-point swing game.
It is also a return to Kelowna for former Rockets Jake Poole and Nicholas Cristiano, who have both shown well after being traded to the Royals. Poole, a forward, had two goals and an assist against the Blazers on Wednesday night and leads Victoria with 15 goals, 11 assists and 26 points on the season. Goaltender Cristiano has been a star in the last three Royals games and has started all five games since the trade that brought him to the Island.
“They will both be very excited to play their former team in Kelowna, but it’s also important, to focus and make sure not to get too amped up in these types of situations,” said Price.
