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View Full Version : Gamble hopes to pay off in Royals' goal



CdnSailor
09-07-2011, 09:35 AM
The exhibition season is about letting players who are on the bubble inside to see if they can stay enveloped within.

That's likely the reason 17-year-old prospect Jared Rathjen and 19-year-old Keith Hamilton got the starts in goal for the Victoria Royals in their first two Western Hockey League pre-season games - respective 4-2 and 7-2 losses last weekend in Kamloops and Kelowna.

Make no mistake about whose job it is to lose.

There is a reason Braden Gamble, the backup to the graduated Lucas Gore the last two season when the franchise was located in the Fraser Valley as the Chilliwack Bruins, has been given the opportunity to win one of only three allowable 20-year-old slots on the squad.

"I'm anxious to get an opportunity to show what I can do for the team," said Gamble, who came off the bench to relieve Rathjen in the first exhibition game.

"As a 20-year-old, I must lead by example and be a role model."

Backing up former Bruins workhorse starter Gore - now with the University of Regina Cougars of the CIS - the patient Gamble has awaited his moment. He appeared in 20 games for the Bruins in 2009-10 with a 3.54 goals-against average and .882 save percentage and in 19 games last season with a 3.86 GAA and .886 save percentage.

"I learned a lot by watching Gore and how he carried the day-to-day load yet stayed calm and focused," said Gamble, who began his junior career with the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta junior league.

"He was a good role model and a class act."

At five-foot-10 and 165 pounds, Gamble is an elastic goaltender who does what it takes to stop the puck.

"I wouldn't say I have technical strong points but my goaltending coach says I'm a Miikka Kiprusoff type," chuckled Gamble.

Growing up in the far reaches of northern Alberta in the small community of North Star, Gamble had to travel to nearby Manning to play organized hockey. He wasn't drafted out of bantam but his sheer persistence got him to the WHL through the AJHL. He's not going to be easily dislodged from his final season of junior.

But complicating matters is that there are four 20-year-olds among the 31 players remaining with the Royals. Rugged Victoria forward Curt Gogol, 20, has signed a free-agent contract with the San Jose Sharks and is the wildcard in the mix. The undrafted winger will attend Sharks camp later this month. If he is assigned to San Jose's minor-pro system, the Royals 20-year-old lineup will be set with Gamble and forward Robin Soudek and defenceman Hayden Rintoul. Yet if Gogol is returned to the Royals to play junior in the city where his dad, Brent Gogol, played for the WHL Victoria Cougars, then Royals GM and head coach Marc Habscheid would have a decision to make.

The WHL deadline for finalizing 20-year-olds isn't

until October. Gamble isn't fretting over it.

"I am only focused on what's happening now," he said.

"The one thing you learn about goaltending is that you are at your best when you stay in the moment. You have to have a short memory and always be in the present."

The present for the Royals continues with exhibitions against the Vancouver Giants on Friday in Ladner and Saturday in Maple Ridge.

The Royals carry Gamble, Rathjen, Hamilton and 28 skaters into the weekend games.



Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/Gamble+hopes+Royals+goal/5363305/story.html#ixzz1XHVJx2hY