If any hockey fans are used to quirky scheduling, it鈥檚 those in Victoria, who remember well the baseball-type three-game Salmon King homestands in the pro ECHL.
Now the Victoria Royals of the WHL have even that beaten as they will play four games in a row against the Vancouver Giants, beginning tonight at the Pacific Coliseum, followed by four consecutive games against the Prince George Cougars.
鈥淚鈥檝e never done anything like this before . . . it鈥檚 kind of like a playoff series,鈥� said 20-year-old Victoria forward Alex Forsberg.
In the 17 years Victoria was out of the WHL, from 1993-1994 to 2010-11, the Giants came into the league and conquered, winning the WHL championship in 2005-06 and the Memorial Cup in 2006-07. The Giants won five consecutive sa国际传媒 Division titles from 2005-06 to 2009-10, four of those with 100 points or more in the standings to gain attention even in a big-league sports market.
That left many to believe the cross-strait Giants-Royals rivalry would be one of the best when Victoria re-entered the WHL in 2011-12. But that never really materialized, mainly because the five-year Royals era has coincided with the Giants in a down phase. Vancouver has burned through four coaches in two seasons and seem well on their way to missing the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.
It has hit bottom this season, with Vancouver last in the Western Conference and second-to-last in the league at 8-18-4 in a year featuring rotating-door roster upheavals. Scott Bonner, the only GM in the 14-year history of the Giants, resigned last week and is joining a sports management agency but will stay with the team until a new GM is hired.
The one major thing finishing so low allowed the Giants to do was take Tyler Benson, projected for the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, first overall in the 2013 WHL bantam draft. But Vancouver looks to have squandered the Benson era.
The Royals, meanwhile, were thought to be rebuilding but are a WHL second-best 19-8-2 and No. 9 in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll. Yet, they are wary of the next four games.
鈥淰ancouver is looking for a turning point and they will come out hungry,鈥� said veteran Victoria forward Logan Fisher.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to be ready for that. They鈥檝e got a good team. They have just not put it together.鈥�
The Royals will be missing head coach Dave Lowry and captain Joe Hicketts for 13 games while the pair attend to their sa国际传媒 duties for the 2016 world junior championship in Helsinki, Finland.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a good spot 鈥� people didn鈥檛 expect us to be where we are 鈥� and we can鈥檛 let up or take any of these games for granted,鈥� said Forsberg, who leads Victoria in scoring with 38 points in 29 games.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 use not having Dave and Joe here as an excuse.鈥�
Enio Sacilotto, the main assistant coach in the five seasons of Royals history, will take over the bench for the next 13 games. The style difference between Sacilotto and Lowry couldn鈥檛 be more pronounced.
鈥淓nio is down to earth and a players鈥� coach . . . Dave is more intimidating,鈥� said Forsberg.
A lot will fall to the remaining leadership group, which includes the veteran mentor Sacilotto on the bench, and the older players on the ice such as Forsberg, Fisher, Jack Walker, Chaz Reddekopp and Ryan Gagnon.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about us sticking together,鈥� said Fisher.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a good run and we want to keep it going. We can鈥檛 waste what we鈥檝e done so far. These next eight are big games within the division. We trust in Enio. He鈥檚 been around the game forever. The systems are not going to change from [Lowry鈥檚].鈥�
The Giants set continues with two games at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Saturday鈥檚 Teddy Bear Toss Night and Sunday鈥檚 matin茅e, followed by a game back in Vancouver on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Royals had an asset in third goalkeeper Evan Smith, a six-foot-six project taken in the seventh-round of the 2015 NHL draft by the Nashville Predators, and have used it. Smith, a native of Colorado who was sent by the Royals this season to the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL, was traded Thursday to the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL for a 2018 third-round bantam draft pick. Victoria also threw in fifth- and ninth-round picks in the 2016 bantam draft. This cements 17-year-old Griffen Outhouse, backup to 20-year-old Coleman Vollrath, as the Royals鈥� goaltender of the future.
鈥淕riffen [Outhouse] has shown he can play in this league . . . we felt comfortable making this move,鈥� said Victoria GM Cam Hope.
鈥淎nd this gives Evan [Smith] a chance to play in the WHL. He needed that opportunity.鈥�
To make room for Smith, the Blades sent goaltender Jake Morrissey to the Giants in exchange for a 2017 seventh-round bantam draft pick.
