Despite heavy losses to graduation following their WHL championship last season, including now-Edmonton Oilers NHLer Leon Draisaitl, the Kelowna Rockets have kept going like it was just a summer stroll through an Okanagan vineyard.
The 2015 Canadian Hockey League championship-game finalists sail onto the Island tonight and Saturday with the best winning percentage in the WHL at 29-10-3 and no lack of weapons.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 trade chances with them,鈥� warned Dave Lowry, the Victoria head coach, whose Royals are 25-15-4, and among the Western Conference contenders looking to halt the Rockets鈥� progress.
鈥淭hey are opportunistic scorers and good in transition.鈥�
Chief among those shifty Rockets are Tyson Baillie, second in league scoring with 66 points in 42 games, and San Jose Sharks draft-pick Rourke Chartier.
As Canadian head coach, Lowry got to see plenty of Chartier up close recently at the 2016 world junior championship in Finland.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 give him easy second chances,鈥� warned Lowry.
The Royals will be further stressed tonight with the absence of blue-liner Chaz Reddekopp, the Los Angles Kings draft pick who is sitting out a one-game suspension because of instigating a fight in the last five minutes of a game in Prince George last Saturday. The Royals were also fined $1,000 because it was the second time this season that one of their players has committed that infraction.
鈥淐haz is a big part of our back end, and someone is going to have to step up and take those minutes he plays,鈥� said Lowry.
Kelowna also has a key absence, with goaltender Jackson Whistle out for two weeks with injury, leaving Michael Herringer of Comox to carry the crease load for the Rockets.
The Royals counter the Rockets up front with the recently hot Tyler Soy, who has six goals and seven assists for 13 points in the last eight games, playing on a line with Jack Walker and Vladimir Bobylev.
鈥淎ll three of us are fast guys, who are playing well together, and it seems to be working,鈥� said Bobylev.
It鈥檚 the U.N. Line, with Bobylev from Russia, Walker from Minnesota and Soy from Cloverdale.
Walker, who has 16 goals and 36 points, joked he may channel onto the ice this weekend some of the pent-up frustration from the nightmare chip-shot field-goal miss that cost his beloved Vikings the NFL wildcard playoff game to the Seahawks.
Not that any more incentive is needed when facing the WHL鈥檚 best, not to mention the team that eliminated Victoria in the second round of the playoffs last year. Yet, the Royals have shown they can run with the Rockets. The eight-game regular-season series is tied 2-2, with Victoria prevailing in 3-0 and 5-1 decisions and Kelowna taking 3-1 and 5-4 victories. After this weekend鈥檚 set, the series concludes with games Jan. 30 and March 16 in the Okanagan.
鈥淚f we play our game 鈥� speed, hard hits 鈥� we can beat any team in the league,鈥� said Bobylev, who has 13 goals and 27 points.
