For the first time in three seasons, Dave Lowry will see the fur fly at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. The Victoria Royals bench boss has been busy with the national team, two years ago as assistant coach and last year as head coach, preparing for the world junior hockey championship this time of year.
Lowry experiences his first Teddy Bear Toss Night since 2013 when the Royals host the Vancouver Giants in a WHL game tonight at 7.
鈥淭his is a tough time of year to ask assistants to take a team,鈥� said Lowry, of the sacrifices that had to be made at the Royals club level when national-team duty called him the past two years.
The Royals won鈥檛 have to worry about that this season.
Which is to their advantage because it is indeed a tricky time of season.
That鈥檚 why the Memorial Centre was uncharacteristically dark Friday morning. Normally on the day before a Royals home game, the blades are flashing and pucks flying as the players practise under Lowry鈥檚 steely gaze.
But part and parcel of this time of year in junior hockey is that the players are naturally distracted by looking ahead to trips back home, which this season begin on Sunday with the start of the WHL鈥檚 Christmas break.
Royals management factored that into the weekend equation by giving the players a rare day off from practice before a game.
鈥淭his is the hardest time of the year to coach kids. [Friday] was their day to take care of all that [travel home preparations],鈥� said Lowry. 鈥淪o, when it comes to game focus, there will be no excuses Saturday.鈥�
The Giants (12-18-3 after Friday night鈥檚 6-3 win over Portland) are the only team in the hyper-competitive Western Conference with a losing record and are in danger of losing touch with the playoff pack, despite featuring NHL-drafted forwards Tyler Benson (Edmonton Oilers) and Ty Ronning (New York Rangers).
Too early to make such calls?
Well, tonight demarcates the end of the pre-Christmas portion of the season. That leaves January and February. You find in hockey that March closes in awfully fast.
鈥淓verything happens quickly now and these are critical games,鈥� added Lowry.
For the Royals, tonight is also the exact halfway point of the 2016-17 regular season. They are 17-15-3 and not quite riding the form that brought them 50 wins last season and the Scotty Munro Trophy at WHL regular-season champions.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe we can be happy with where we are at . . . there has been too much inconsistency,鈥� said Lowry.
鈥淟ast season as a group we overachieved. This season we are underachieving. Yet, I have not been disappointed in the effort. Only with the results.鈥�
But a hallmark of the Royals era under Lowry and GM Cam Hope, now in its fifth season, has been that the second halves of seasons are invariably better than the first halves.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure why . . . if I knew, we would do it in the first halves of seasons, too,鈥� quipped Hope.
Victoria was 21-12-2 at this point last season. That is four wins ahead of this season鈥檚 pace, which is not crazily overwhelming.
鈥淲e鈥檙e only a few points [seven] behind last season. We鈥檙e going to be all right. I see no reason why we can鈥檛 be a contender this season,鈥� said Hope.
Lowry concurred.
鈥淚 know there is more,鈥� said the Victoria bench boss.
鈥淥nce we get everybody back and healthy, we believe we will make a good second-half push.鈥�
ICE CHIPS: Anaheim Ducks-drafted sniper Tyler Soy and 2017 NHL-draft projected defenceman Scott Walford continue to be out for the Royals, with both returns listed as being 1-2 weeks away due to upper-body injuries. . . . Victoria forwards Jared Dmytriw and Ryan Peckford are questionable for tonight with dings. . . . The Giants will be missing forward Radovan Bondra, who is with the Slovakian team preparing for the world junior tournament.
