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View Full Version : Parksville's Pilton making big strides with Royals



CdnSailor
09-21-2011, 11:53 AM
Forward Kevin Sundher of Surrey will be returned today from the NHL camp of the Buffalo Sabres and the 19-year-old will be a significant addition to the roster as the Royals launch the Western Hockey League season Friday in Vancouver against the Giants. The Grizzlies then turn around and host the Giants on Saturday for their home opener at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

“Kevin is obviously an important part of our team and will help us for sure,” said Royals GM and head coach Marc Habscheid.

“He’s matured a lot over the years. As a high draft pick [third round of the Sabres], he’s part of the solution this season.”

But for 16-year-old six-foot-five defenceman Kade Pilton of Parksville, it’s the game within the game of waiting and wondering where and if he fits in with nine blue-liners remaining on the Royals’ roster.

“Kade has tons of potential but the word casual comes to mind,” said Habscheid.

“You can’t be a little bit casual in hockey. That is something Kade needs to work on, and we have been working hard with him on that. He has the composure.”

Pilton, the lone Islander on the Royals, knows what needs to be done.

“No spot on this team is guaranteed,” said the Oceanside minor hockey product who was born in Perth, Australia, where his dad Geoff was a police SWAT team member and avid rugby player.

“Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is to be more intense out there on the ice.”

The kid has gotten the message. He turns 17 in November and has time on his side. But that can slip away very quickly in a junior career.

“It would be really good [to make the team] this year,” he acknowledged.

The Royals are currently carrying three goaltenders, nine blue-liners and 17 forwards, including Curt Gogol, who is in the NHL camp of the San Jose Sharks.

WHL teams don’t have to name their final 25-player rosters until Oct. 10, leaving Habscheid plenty of options until then. Habscheid, who can dress two goalies and 18 skaters for games, said he will make no cuts prior to opening weekend. He added that once the season is underway full throttle, he prefers a roster of 23.

Habscheid said he has made no determination on who will wear the ‘C’ this season and that he may not name a captain for the opening games, possibly deferring that decision until later.

One of the candidates for the captainship is Hayden Rintoul, a 20-year-old defenceman acquired in a summer trade from the defending WHL champion Kootenay Ice.

“As an overage player [WHL teams are allowed to carry three 20-year-olds], I will be expected to lead on and off the ice,” said Rintoul, whose playoff run last spring with the Ice could prove invaluable in terms of imparted dressing-room wisdom this season in Victoria.

Lightly-regarded Kootenay scored a major upset in the 2011 WHL final over a fancied Portland Winterhawks team loaded with NHL draft picks.

“The biggest thing I learned from winning the league title is that you have to work hard and be there for your teammates,” said Rintoul, a six-foot, 190-pounder from Calgary.

“We [Ice] didn’t have as many star players as Portland. But that’s why you play the games. I hope that makes our guys [Royals] realize you don’t have to be the best team. You are going to beat a lot of teams simply by working harder than them.”

That clearly sounds like a captain speaking.



Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/Parksville+Pilton+making+strides+with+Royals/5433001/story.html#ixzz1YbvUzvEQ

dondo
09-24-2011, 01:54 AM
Pilton's a big boy -- great tilt between him and McNaughton tonight though -- epic toe-to-toe battle.