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View Full Version : Royals hope to gain from this season's pain 03 Apr 12



CdnSailor
04-04-2012, 02:14 PM
Don’t look for a stand-pat roster just because the Victoria Royals return all but two graduating 20-year-old players for the 2012-13 Western Hockey League season.

“The biggest thing you don’t want is to have complacency set in,” warned GM and head coach Marc Habscheid.

“There is nobody automatic on the team. Our list [each WHL team can protect 50 players] is such that we have good players coming in . . . including 21 forwards for 13 spots.”

Inconsistency in goal was a problem for Victoria. With Royals-protected Coleman Vollrath showing well this season with the Calgary Buffaloes of the Alberta Midget Hockey League, look for him to potentially step up to the WHL level next season in Victoria as a 17-year-old.

Habscheid just returned from scouting a bantam tournament in Winnipeg and will be doing the same later this week in Kamloops and next week in Edmonton.

Because of the mid-season trade of Buffalo Sabres-signed 19-year-old forward Kevin Sundher from Victoria to the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Royals have two picks — No. 8 and No. 13 — in the 2012 WHL bantam draft May 3.

“Those are two important, high picks and we should get good players,” said Habscheid.

Trading Sundher undoubtedly hurt Victoria’s prospects in the latter part of this season and in the playoffs as the team was never really the same after he departed. (Sundher is about to enter the second round of the playoffs with the

Wheat Kings).

“It was the right thing to do,” said Habscheid, noting Sundher was not likely to return for a 20-year-old season and the trade will bear fruit next month on bantam draft day.

After taking defencemen Keegan Kanzig in 2010 and Joe Hicketts in 2011 with their first-round bantam picks, Habscheid indicated the franchise will be looking to forwards in this year’s draft.

But bantam picks are long-term projects. Next season is always of most immediate concern to fans. The Royals, however, say patience is necessary in the WHL.

“We made some tough decisions and did a lot of the heavy lifting this season [toward building for the future] in going with a youth movement,” said Habscheid.

“We want to build a championship team, not just a playoff team.”



Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/Royals+hope+gain+from+this+season+pain/6406793/story.html#ixzz1r6Y3TFb2