What鈥檚 the old saying? Make hay while the sun shines?
Well, the sun isn鈥檛 exactly shining at this time of year in this province, but if the Victoria Royals want to stay in the thick of things in the sa国际传媒 Division, they鈥檒l have to make hay over the next couple of weeks.
Starting tonight against the Vancouver Giants at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, the Royals will play their next seven games against sa国际传媒 Division teams.
It鈥檚 a lot of games over a short amount of time, so the Christmas break probably couldn鈥檛 have come at a better time for the Royals. Victoria hasn鈥檛 played since a 3-1 home-ice loss to the Spokane Chiefs on Dec. 18.
But the time off can also be a hindrance.
鈥淚t does take a while to get your timing and pace and stuff like that back,鈥� said Royals head coach Dan Price, who gathered his troops for a Boxing Day evening practice to prepare for the fourth-place Giants (14-15-1-1).
鈥淏ut you also have to remember that it鈥檚 the same for both teams right now so there鈥檚 no real advantage for either team.鈥�
The third-place Royals (17-11-2-0) are six points up on the Giants, who won their final game before the break and continue to be without star defenceman and Colorado Avalanche first-round draft pick Bowen Byram, who is in the Czech Republic playing for sa国际传媒 at the world junior hockey championship.
鈥淰ancouver is such a deep team with or without Byram so you really have to have your entire team focused and going, and [the Giants] are coming off winning their last game before the break so they will be a confident bunch so it鈥檒l be a tough test for our team.鈥�
So will the seven games in less than two weeks as the Royals gear up for a gruelling January that will see them play 15 games in the first month of 2020.
鈥淚t is a lot of games so we need to use rest and recovery as a weapon,鈥� added Price. 鈥淚t will be much like the playoffs so it will be a good test that way and we will treat it as such.鈥�
Following the game against the Giants, the Royals will welcome the sa国际传媒 Division last-place Prince George Cougars to town on Saturday night.
The Cougars (8-20-1-3) beat the Giants 3-0 on Dec. 17 in their final pre-Christmas break game and are in Everett tonight to take on the Silvertips.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Royals welcome back captain Phillip Schultz to the lineup after the veteran missed the last three weeks while representing Denmark at the Tier II world junior championship in Belarus.
