CdnSailor
01-13-2012, 12:29 AM
12 Jan 2012
Even by the wearying standards of Western Hockey League bus travel, this trip is a tire-busting asphalt grinder.
The Victoria Royals play the first tilt of a 14-day, six-game sojourn through Saskatchewan and Manitoba tonight in Regina against the Eastern Conference fifth-place Pats (24-16-4).
“Road trips bring a team together,” said Victoria captain Hayden Rintoul, on the day the Royals bus pulled out for the marathon drive across Western Canada.
“It’s 24/7.”
Which may be just what this team needs because it is certainly in need of something after having gone winless in its last nine games.
“I thought we played well in our last two games by keeping it simple,” said Rintoul.
“I think we’re moving forward.”
Victoria’s hold on the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference is tenuous, making the accumulation of points on this road swing a necessity not a luxury. The Royals lead the ninth-place Prince George Cougars by three points with the Cougars holding a game in hand. Victoria trails seventh-place Seattle by two points but the Thunderbirds hold four games in hand.
The Royals problems are obviously on the backside. Victoria is a respectable 10th in league scoring with 145 goals, but has allowed 212, a league worst by a whopping 30 goals. And while Victoria is an OK 12th in the league on the power play with a 21.2 per cent success rate, it is second-worst in penalty killing with only a 74.2 per cent success rate.
Jordan Weal, who is the big wheel for Regina, could stress that creaky Victoria defence. The third-round Los Angeles Kings draft pick from North Vancouver has 26 goals and 70 points in 43 games and is second in WHL scoring, six points adrift of leader Ty Rattie of Portland. No other player on the Pats is even close to that. The second-leading scorer is defenceman and Edmonton Oilers prospect Brandon Davidson, who was never drafted out of bantam, and has 32 points. This is a Regina team that likes to play it tight with players such as Delta-native defenceman Colton Jobke, a former Penticton BCHL player who was undrafted but signed to a pro contract by the Minnesota Wild as a free agent.
The Pats bulked up even more on defence before this week’s trade deadline by acquiring blue-liners Martin Marincin, who played for Slovakia earlier this month at the world junior championship, from the Prince George Cougars and Penticton-native Luke Fenske from the Vancouver Giants.
Tonight’s game reunites Regina head coach Pat Conacher and Victoria head coach and GM Marc Habscheid, although on opposite benches. Conacher was Habscheid’s assistant GM and coach last season when the Royals were located in Chilliwack.
The Royals, however, can be excused if they look past tonight’s game to Saturday’s contest in Brandon against the Wheat Kings. Originally just another fixture on the calendar, that game has suddenly taken on an intriguing subtext after Royals leading scorer Kevin Sundher was traded this week to the Wheat Kings for defenceman Jordan Fransoo and forward Dakota Conroy.
Saturday’s game now promises to be super-charged with emotion for those three players and their respective former teammates on both sides.
“It’s going to be a different feeling, for sure, being in the visitors dressing in what used to be my home rink and seeing old friends in the stands,” said Fransoo.
Conroy admitted it will be “weird” going out to hit his former friends and teammates.
The Royals roll into Swift Current on Tuesday, Moose Jaw on Wednesday, Prince Albert next Friday and Saskatoon next Saturday
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/Trip+East+could+beast+Royals/5988637/story.html#ixzz1jJjDHmb2
Even by the wearying standards of Western Hockey League bus travel, this trip is a tire-busting asphalt grinder.
The Victoria Royals play the first tilt of a 14-day, six-game sojourn through Saskatchewan and Manitoba tonight in Regina against the Eastern Conference fifth-place Pats (24-16-4).
“Road trips bring a team together,” said Victoria captain Hayden Rintoul, on the day the Royals bus pulled out for the marathon drive across Western Canada.
“It’s 24/7.”
Which may be just what this team needs because it is certainly in need of something after having gone winless in its last nine games.
“I thought we played well in our last two games by keeping it simple,” said Rintoul.
“I think we’re moving forward.”
Victoria’s hold on the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference is tenuous, making the accumulation of points on this road swing a necessity not a luxury. The Royals lead the ninth-place Prince George Cougars by three points with the Cougars holding a game in hand. Victoria trails seventh-place Seattle by two points but the Thunderbirds hold four games in hand.
The Royals problems are obviously on the backside. Victoria is a respectable 10th in league scoring with 145 goals, but has allowed 212, a league worst by a whopping 30 goals. And while Victoria is an OK 12th in the league on the power play with a 21.2 per cent success rate, it is second-worst in penalty killing with only a 74.2 per cent success rate.
Jordan Weal, who is the big wheel for Regina, could stress that creaky Victoria defence. The third-round Los Angeles Kings draft pick from North Vancouver has 26 goals and 70 points in 43 games and is second in WHL scoring, six points adrift of leader Ty Rattie of Portland. No other player on the Pats is even close to that. The second-leading scorer is defenceman and Edmonton Oilers prospect Brandon Davidson, who was never drafted out of bantam, and has 32 points. This is a Regina team that likes to play it tight with players such as Delta-native defenceman Colton Jobke, a former Penticton BCHL player who was undrafted but signed to a pro contract by the Minnesota Wild as a free agent.
The Pats bulked up even more on defence before this week’s trade deadline by acquiring blue-liners Martin Marincin, who played for Slovakia earlier this month at the world junior championship, from the Prince George Cougars and Penticton-native Luke Fenske from the Vancouver Giants.
Tonight’s game reunites Regina head coach Pat Conacher and Victoria head coach and GM Marc Habscheid, although on opposite benches. Conacher was Habscheid’s assistant GM and coach last season when the Royals were located in Chilliwack.
The Royals, however, can be excused if they look past tonight’s game to Saturday’s contest in Brandon against the Wheat Kings. Originally just another fixture on the calendar, that game has suddenly taken on an intriguing subtext after Royals leading scorer Kevin Sundher was traded this week to the Wheat Kings for defenceman Jordan Fransoo and forward Dakota Conroy.
Saturday’s game now promises to be super-charged with emotion for those three players and their respective former teammates on both sides.
“It’s going to be a different feeling, for sure, being in the visitors dressing in what used to be my home rink and seeing old friends in the stands,” said Fransoo.
Conroy admitted it will be “weird” going out to hit his former friends and teammates.
The Royals roll into Swift Current on Tuesday, Moose Jaw on Wednesday, Prince Albert next Friday and Saskatoon next Saturday
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/Trip+East+could+beast+Royals/5988637/story.html#ixzz1jJjDHmb2