The Portland Winterhawks have been a study in consistency, not an easy thing in the natural up-and-down cycles of major-junior hockey. Only the Winterhawks and Everett Silvertips have made the WHL playoffs every season since the Victoria Royals came to the Island in 2011-12. (Perhaps, surprisingly, the Royals were the third team on that list until last season).
It has always been an occasion when the Winterhawks come to town, dating back to the Victoria Cougars era in the WHL in the old Memorial Arena. The building and Victoria team may have changed on Blanshard Street, but not the constancy of the visiting Winterhawks, who meet the Royals tonight and Saturday night.
“Portland has a tremendous tradition and has always managed to do a great job of being consistent,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price.
“You look up this year and suddenly they are on top of the conference and in the Canadian Hockey League top-10 [at No. 6 this week].”
That defies many of the pre-season polls that predicted the Kamloops Blazers and Seattle Thunderbirds would lead the WHL’s Western Conference parade. It’s still early, but you have to give it up for the Winterhawks and their 11-1-2 start.
They are a very aggressive, vertical team that plays with pace and it’s going to be a track meet this weekend,” said Price.
The Royals, meanwhile, are struggling at 3-12-3 overall after going 1-4-1 on a sapping six-game road trip through the Central Division of the Eastern Conference, the first such swing since before the pandemic.
“We had a good week of practice back home and have a new level of energy,” said Price.
“We approach the season in segments and were 3-5-2 in our last segment and are entering our next segment. We are 0-0 against Portland. Doing well this weekend would create a great spark for our group.”
Victoria’s injury situation continues to haunt the club. sa国际传媒 U-18 forward Brayden Schuurman returned to the lineup for four games, after being hurt in the NHL rookie camp of the Boston Bruins, only to go out again and is week-to-week. Also out week-to-week is Danish-import forward Marcus Almquist, robbing the Royals of two key offensive threats.
“That’s two-thirds of our Schuurman-Almquist-[Tanner] Scott line of last season,” noted Price. “But we’ve got lots of guys who can play centre and that always helps [when rejigging the forward corps].”
Top-pairing defenceman Wyatt Wilson, who skated in the NHL rookie camp of the Winnipeg Jets, remains out long term. There is better news, but it is tentative, on the status of Royals captain Gannon Laroque. The NHL-signed San Jose Sharks blue-line prospect began skating, but away from team practice, for the first time since surgery in the summer. It will be a while yet until Laroque returns — likely costing his chance of being invited to the sa国际传媒 selection camp for the 2023 world junior championship — but it’s the first bit of encouraging news in a long time regarding his recovery process.
